Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 08:18:34 -0700
Reply-To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject: Re: Woody's woes (temporarily) over
Woody,
It is said that we must all carry a burden. At least for Vanagon drivers,
most of the time our burden carries us!
I've had alternators just up and die. Matter of fact, as with all things
electronic, I believe that 's what they usually do. The mechanical parts,
like bearings and brushes, will gradually go away, but the electronic
components generally either work or they don't. Don't have an answer on why
the dash light didn't work, but I'm sure someone will.
Yes, it's possible you still have another problem! However, you most likely
do not. Did you ask your buddy if he had any clue as to what killed your
alternator? I would think a post-mortem of some sort would be in order.
Keep your spirits up. I got back some of the "work in progress" photos of
my bathroom. Nothing of the finished product yet, though.
Karl
----- Original Message -----
From: "Woody Halsey" <WoodyHalsey@COMPUSERVE.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 5:01 AM
Subject: Woody's woes (temporarily) over
Dear List,
Those kind enough to follow my saga and lend moral and technical support
will recall that I declared a tentative victory the other day. The Darrell
Digitool had helped identify wiring defects as the probable cause of my
erratic engine performance and abominable MPG. A new wiring harness and ECU
from Bob Keezer, along with various other parts, seemed to have me happily
back on the road after a six-month search for solutions. I drove to my
sister's house and picked up the bench I had promised to refinish as a
birthday present last May.
But the joy was not to last.
First, I noticed that the alternator bracket was loose. In fact, **both**
bolts holding it to the block had broken. Probably as a result of all the
shaking caused by the stumbling and terribly rough running last fall. It is
a miracle that I didn't throw a belt or find the alternator flying around
the engine compartment. Replacing the bolts took my smart and resourceful
mechanic a solid hour using all kinds of specialized wrenched and more
patience than I have at my disposal for use in an average month. As he was
finishing up that job, we noticed that there was an exhaust leak where the
exhaust pipe attaches to the block. The threads in the block were stripped
and the bolt couldn't grab. He thought, "Helicoil." I thought, "Oh, I can
do that myself." Days later, having purchased the coils, the bit, the tap,
and looked again at the location of the stripped threads again, I said to
myself, "No way!" Made an appointment. Took it down to George. Another
frustrating hour later and he had ended up using a self-tapping bolt with a
nut up by the head to shorten it (I know, I know) because there was no way
to install the helicoils, short of removing the thermostat. He charged me
another $25 and I was on my way. Went home. Cleaned up for dinner. Headed
to Boston, cheerful to be at the wheel of the V'gon again and looking
forward to a nice evening with family members.
Then disaster struck again.
As I was tooling down 495, I noticed that the gas gauge was plummeting --
from full to empty in 10 miles. I concluded that a) I had a gas leak, b)
the gauge had broken, or c) my rich-running problem had come back in
spades! Decided I'd better pull into the garage. Luckily, I had not passed
the exit for George's shop yet. I got off the highway and headed into
Andover, MA. At the light in the center of town, about 2 blocks from the
garage I stalled. Turned the key to re-start. Absolutely dead. Nothing. I
was so discouraged I just about walked away from the vexed beast forever.
Instead, I took a deep breath, walked up to the garage and asked Randy to
come give me a jump start. This he did at the busy intersection and I
proceeded to the station.
Diagnosis: The alternator had given up the ghost. This despite the fact
that days earlier it had been faithfully putting out over 13V.
Questions:
1) Do alternators just die, from one minute to the next, when something
inside breaks, as opposed to wearing out over time?
2) If the alternator was not working in the 20 minutes I was headed down
the highway, why didn't the warning light on the dash go on?
3) Is it possible that there is **still** a problem in my wiring somewhere
that would account for two used alternators conking out in the space of a
couple of months?
Yesterday, Randy put in the rebuilt alternator I picked up for $72.99, no
tax, from AutoZone in NH and everything seems to work again. Any
predictions of how long this happy state of affairs will last?
Hoping some of you will have thoughts on the three questions above.
Thanks for sharing my pain!
Woody
