Date:         Wed, 25 Jan 2006 10:31:59 -0500
Reply-To:     Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tim Demarest <tim.demarest@POBOX.COM>
Subject:      Re: Update (not fixed...)  Re: FIXED? (and,
              advice needed...) (was: Re: low voltage,
              starter running intermittently, but alternator is okay?)
Comments: To: mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <43D6D2EC.5000708@earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Mark is correct, the wiring changed between '85 and '86... I thought Wes
had a post-'85 van. Sorry if I got the year wrong!

I know the early wiring well, since my one-and-only Vanagon is a 1985...
and I have had to replace the wire between the starter and that threaded
stud in the engine compartment (bad splice at the starter end, about an
inch from the harness... someone apparently removed the starter from my van
with a wire cutter at some time in the past).

At 05:22 PM 1/24/2006 -0800, mark drillock wrote:
>Not on an 84, that is the mid 86 and later wiring. In 84 models both
>smallish red wires go from the alternator to the threaded stud in the
>engine compartment wiring box where a total of  4 wires join.The 3rd
>wire goes from there to the box containing the fuel injection relays to
>power the fuel pump and ECU, etc. The larger 4th wire goes to the
>starter motor where it shares the stud with the BIG wire from the battery.
>
>The mid86 and later wiring goes directly from the alternator to the
>starter with a larger wire and has a smaller second wire from the
>alternator to the wiring box and on to the FI relay box. Bentley 97.70
>shows an early type and Bentley 97.87 shows the later, both diagrams are
>for 86 models, early and late. Bentley 97.122 shows the later but with
>an even thicker wire from the alternator to the starter beginning with
>88 models.
>
>The earlier wiring is more susceptible to damage from overheating, as
>well as being a longer run for the charging current with more
>connections to get loose or corroded.
>
>Mark
>
>Tim Demarest wrote:
>
>>Hey Wes,
>>
>>         Sorry you're still having troubles. Those two wires on the
>>back of
>>the alternator are:
>>                 1. From starter to the alternator (the big fat wire
>>connects from there to the battery).
>>                 2. To engine compartment electronics.
>>......................