Date:         Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:55:07 -0500
Reply-To:     Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
Subject:      Re: electrical woes - problem solved?
In-Reply-To:  <5D6A9D02-564E-4ED5-BFB0-48F5CA13F52D@mts.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Thanks everyone for the many suggestions i received.  Turns out it
was (hopefully) a simple problem.

The battery was toast.  It was pretty new but had a bad cell.  I
never suspected it because it turned over quickly, but that seems to
have solved the problem.  I tried to charge it this morning and found
it wouldn't hold a charge.  Then when I was trying to start it, it
would turn over quickly but i didn't hear the fuel pump come on.
I'll clean the grounds for good measure anyway.  Now its no surprise
that I'm not even at the amateur level mechanically, but I was
surprised that the quality of the battery would affect things like
the speed of the windshield wipers, etc.  Hope this helps out some
other newbie surfing the archives some day. . .

Thanks again for all the tips.
Jeff

On 17-Jul-07, at 11:12 PM, Jeff Palmer wrote:

> So I got some great suggestions - maybe bad grounds, maybe bad
> alternator, try measuring the voltage across the terminals with the
> engine running . . .
>
> So I go out tonight and try and start it, and the battery indicator
> light reads poor, and it won't start.  Turns over quickly, but won't
> catch.  Yesterday when it did catch the tach was bouncing all over
> the place although the engine was running smoothly.
>
> The battery is relatively new, but I've never replaced the alternator
> or starter since I bought the van in 1993.  Never had a reason to.
>
> Does this shed any light on the grounds vs. alternator theory?  Or
> anything else?
>
> Thanks again
> Jeff
>
> On 15-Jul-07, at 4:54 PM, Jeff Palmer wrote:
>
>> Well, I'm 1600 emails behind with not much chance in catching up at
>> this point . . .
>>
>> So my 85 Westfalia seems to be running a little slow electrically-
>> speaking.  Dash lights a little dimmer, windshield wipers a little
>> slower.  Lately the CD player has even been cutting out when I hit
>> the brakes, headlights etc. (it will come back on within a second or
>> two).
>>
>> Any suggestions?  Seems to start fine.  I mean, as well as it ever
>> did.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> Jeff
>> 85 Westfalia
>> 69 notchback
>> 03 Beetle