dear loren
great story --
highlighting my failures of knowledge-- almost all things electrical --
I am a good R & R guy ...
oh that is broken ...  access .. remove-- clean --repair --- replace
even removed the pully shaft from a ford alternator that had the wide flat
belt --
so i could run with my narrow v belt --

but how to hook up batteries and  isolated charging units and --
how even to use my meter to check voltage demand or output of an alternator
-- there i fall down --
i do know that if i lift off a battery cable and she stalls then i am not
charging ---
check wires and fuses first --brushes -- the little regulator item on the
back of the alternator next ...
access R & R .. all very simple -- completed in the rain --- in a shop -- on
the ground at the side of the road

but how to hook up what amount to marine electric installations for our vans
-- me is lost --
... i have a friend who is very smart when it comes to this stuff and he is
patiently teaching  me ...
but i often have to re ask the same questions -- about different items --
of course the best part is the additional parts you have on your list --
brushes etc ...

hmm maybe i should get a set of Blue Streak points in the glove box too
in case i run into a broken down pre 1969 ford ...
thanks for the story
yours

On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 11:07 PM, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:

>   This is one of two Vanagon mechanical related posts I'll be putting up
> based
> on Things Learned on the Road during my last trip down to BBTB and beyond.
>
> A week after leaving Lake Havasu I had ended up in a small RV park right in
> town in Borrego Springs. I left in the morning to run to my brother in laws
> place in Chula Vista, just outside of San Diego. I took the Hwy 78/79 route
> up through Julian that connects to I-8, about 50 miles. I stopped at
> Cuyamaca Lake for breakfast then back on the road. Finally hit I-8 and
> headed down the hill to hit I-805 and then south to Chula Vista. About 10
> miles down I-8 Starwagen died, dead, in the middle of the freeway. Because
> I was headed down hill I was able to coast along and get to the right
> shoulder. I have a volt meter that shows the voltage on both starting and
> aux batteries, mounted on the front of the sink right behind the drivers
> seat. I turned around and checked, starting battery at eight volts. After
> having to move a bunch of stuff I got the jumper cables out and jumped the
> aux battery to the starting battery. Started right up and drove to my
> brother in laws. After saying out hellos and having a cup of coffee I dug
> into the rig. Sure enough, the alternator was not charging.
>
> A lesson reinforced here. I learned many years ago that 80% or more of
> alternator failures are actually just worn brushes, the windings are still
> fine. So I installed the spare regulator/brush pack that I carry and all
> was
> well, charging just fine. I was ready to continue on the next day.
>
> Now for the lessons learned. First, I don't know when the alternator quit
> charging. I'd been on 110v AC at the RV park in Borrego Springs so both
> batteries had been topped off by the three stage charger I have permanently
> wired into the van. If I assume somewhere before Borrego Springs then I got
> about 70 miles on the battery alone and that was running with the
> headlights
> on (and they are 80 watts each). I did NOT get a red warning light. If one
> of the brushes goes (and one of mine seemed to have disappeared, more on
> that later) you wont' get the red warning light. If you loose a belt and
> the alternator isn't turning, yes, you will get the light. I've encountered
> this in vehicles other than VWs over the years. BUT, and this is the first
> lesson, WHEN I TURNED ON THE IGNITION SWITCH THE ALTERNATOR DASH LIGHT DID
> NOT COME ON AS IT SHOULD WHEN EVERYTHING IS OKAY. I checked this before
> replacing the regulator. But who actually pays any attention to the test
> mode on those lights when starting anyway? Well, I think I will in the
> future. Another lesson also learned. Part way over the windy, twisty, up
> and down road my gas gauge was telling me I'd used nearly half a tank of
> gas
> in 55 miles. I knew I was bucking a hell of a headwind that day but it
> never dawned on me that the gauge was reading wrong because of low voltage.
>
> Second Lesson: DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THESE: http://tinyurl.com/bqrrj6
>
> You should all recognize the regulator/brush pack. But the important item
> is the little Phillips right angle screwdriver. Without it I doubt that I'd
> have been able to change the regulator without breaking the alternator
> loose. I have several good screwdrivers in my kit but the angles were just
> such that I couldn't get them properly on to the two screws that hold the
> regulator in place. With the little angled screwdriver it was simple, total
> of maybe 20 minutes including unpacking the back and digging out the tools.
>
> And now, the rest of the story. Last fall I'd realized that the alternator
> bearings were making a lot of noise. When Jason Newton put a new water pump
> in for me he suggested that the alternator was going to need replacing
> soon.
> But I put it off. I have to assume that the bad bearings may have
> contributed to the failure of the brushes. When I removed the old regulator
> one of the brushes had either disintegrated or jumped out and disappeared
> on
> the ground somewhere. I figured the alternator with the new brushes would
> probably get me home but instead of waiting when I got to Santa Cruz I
> pulled into Van Cafe and Peter had me out of there with a new alternator
> installed (with new belt and oil filter change to boot) in a little over an
> hour. I had them swap the nearly new good regulator out and put the old,
> bad one back in, I'll still have a good spare in the spares kit.
>
> And now the last lesson from this and this is one that can't be learned
> from
> a few sentences here. Get to know and understand how your vehicle works. I
> hate to say this but it was gut instinct based on many years of driving and
> (in the past) working on all kinds of vehicles that screamed at me "DEAD
> BATTERY' when the Starwagen died. I know that there are many on this list
> that would have ended up being towed in the same situation. And having an
> aux battery and jumper cables is what got me back on the road and to my
> brother in laws place. And also knowing that brushes are the most likely
> failure in the alternator is what got the Starwagen back on the trip, I
> probably would have made it home without the new alternator.
>
> One last footnote on this. My batteries are connected through a Shurepower
> 1315 isolator. The 1315 has a feature that allows you to install a small
> switch that when thrown connects the aux battery directly to the starting
> battery, a feature aimed at just the situation I found myself in. BUT,
> because it requires beefing up the cable between the starting battery and
> the 1315, which I haven't done, I have never installed the switch and that
> feature wasn't available to me when I needed it. This would have eliminated
> the need to open up a bunch of stuff to get the jumper cables run between
> the two batteries. Guess what project has been moved to the top of my 'To
> Be Done' list?
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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