Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 10:46:26 -0800
Reply-To: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: gary hradek <hradek@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: OX and charge lights on
In-Reply-To: <20030121.120637.1420.0.wilden1@juno.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Stan,
just sent this to Joe. I think the alternator in
a aircooled is a differnt beast than in a watercooled,
for the following reason. I onced drove my ford van
from the midwest back to san francisco with a bad
alternator. Did a lot of camping on hills pointed
downward. Does not work with a vanagon that is water
cooled. That radiator fan in the front sucks the
life out of your charging system when your old
alternator begins to fail. Bad brushes or bad
bearing is a bad deal for the waterleakers.
bless your air cooled soul, gary
Joe,
I think this is all about money and time and which
you have more of. In my case I too was puzzled by an
alternator that was still working with a bad whine.
Trust me when I say that it is whining to be replaced.
If you choose to replace the bearing this could work.
By the time you get to the 02 light coming on and off
you are living on borrowed time. You are basically
shooting the dice as to when you begin discharging
more than charging. You will be in a sinking ship
when you see yor temp gauge and gas gauge begin to
drop unexpectly as the voltage drops and is unable to
hold the weight of the needles. If I had to do it
all over again, I would admit my mistake and replace
the sucker. As bad as the whine of the alternator
was it was nothin compared to the whine of the wife,
the day we broke down in port orford. I held on to
the old alternator and intend to rebuild it as a
backup. The mechanic who did the work in port orford
picked a napa rebuild about a hundred dollars less
than a genuine bosch rebuild. Odd that the mechanics
name was "Joe" at Joe's garage. Hopes this help you
joe. oh one last thing money out the door was only
$300.00 for the labor,part and core since I held on to
the core. This does not include the cost of the
motel for two nights, dining and all sorts of
entertainment. We were on a first name basis with
many of the citizens of port orford before we left.
and we always stop in these days to enjoy port orford
on are way camping along the oregon coast. So there
could be a bright side to your breakdown too.
hold to 12.6 volts always, gary
--- Stan Wilder <wilden1@juno.com> wrote:
> My OX / EGR (same thing) Alternator came on a few
> times on my Air Cooled
> 83 Westy within the last week.
> It really didn't strike a zone until I read postings
> on the list.
> Finally I took the problem to task and had to unplug
> and re plug the
> alternator wiring about three times to get the
> oxidation (nice word for
> *%#2*7) off the connectors.
> That apparently fixed it and my charge gauge (volt
> meter) shows a higher
> rate of charge now.
> Here's hoping your solution is as simple.
> "Old equipment behaves like old equipment", that is
> a quote from your
> Uncle Stan ....... me.
>
> Stan Wilder
>
>
> On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 09:20:07 -0800 gary hradek
> <hradek@YAHOO.COM> writes:
> > mark
> > bad alternator bearing gave the same symptoms for
> me.
> > alternator can strand you big time as the radiator
> fan
> > kicks on and kills your power. Shop first
> thought my
> > alternator was good when I coasted in without
> power.
> > get it fixed soon. gary
> > Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 23:01:09 -0800
> > From: Radish <Radish150@EARTHLINK.NET>
> > Subject: OX and charge lights on...
> >
> > Hey all, long time no... long time no have problem
> > with vanagon! Been
> > over a year of trouble free driving with my 85
> after
> > going thru the
> > engine. Anyhow, during my brothers trip to New
> > Orleans, these lights
> > started coming on, not sure if it was all of the
> > sudden or if it was
> > gradual, but sometimes they flicker a little bit.
> For
> > the most part
> > tho, they never go out. I have reset the ox switch
> on
> > the fenderwell, I
> > have rattled the wires in the dash, looked for
> shorts
> > around the alt,
> > REPLACED the gage cluster, still on. Anyone have
> any
> > ideas where the
> > culprit may lie? Brother had the alt bench tested
> and
> > it tested fine
> > (lot that tells us), but it is certainly been
> charging
> > as it's been
> > driven for weeks since they came on.
> >
> > All (any) help appreciated,
> > mark...
> >
> >
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