Date:         Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:36:18 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: Stuck in Council Bluffs IA
Comments: To: David Boan <dboan@COMCAST.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <004d01cb3b5d$825fb9e0$871f2da0$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 11:05 PM 8/13/2010 Friday, David Boan wrote:
>I am on the home stretch of a Chicago to Oregon and back to Chicago trip,
>when the battery and OCS lights came on in Council Bluffs.

I'm guessing OCS is oxygen sensor light?

>  It was already
>evening, so stopped at closest motel.

Next time please stop instantly and make sure the belt is
intact.  Otherwise you risk wrecking the motor by overheat.

>Does anyone know a repair place in Omaha or Council Bluffs that is likely to
>be open on Saturday morning?  Am I right that it probably will not go
>another 10 hours?

Yes, you're right -- unless the D+ lead has come unplugged from the
back of the alternator or otherwise broken, in which case putting it
back together should take care of you.

With ignition on that lead should show +12 when it's not plugged in,
some considerably lesser value when it is plugged in, and back to +12
with the engine running.  If you ground the end of the lead, the
light on the dash should come on.


Dunno about repair places, but any parts place should be able to test
the alternator, sell you a swap one and a pair of gloves, replace the
pulley if it's the wrong one and maybe even lend you a wrench or
two.  As usual on the Vanagon, 13mm is most of what you need -- maybe
a 14 for the pivot bolt underneath the alternator.  And 8mm or
something similar for the little nuts on the back that you may have
to remove.  The nut on the battery ground clamp is 10 mm.  You'll
need a ratchet and a three-inch extension, possibly a universal-joint
extension.  If you have power steering, loosening and pivoting the
pump as far out of the way as possible (farther than the adjustment
bolt allows) will make the job either easier or possible, I forget which.

The second time you do this is always a lot easier than the first
time, but it's definitely an Auto Zone parking lot job, and they'll
expect it since they want the your original one as a core.  So if you
need another tool, it's 20 feet away.

If you're seriously mechanophobic then you might be able to slip one
of the clerks a twenty or two to do it for you.

Yours,
David