Date:         Wed, 19 Apr 1995 10:28:54 -0600 (MDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         corbin blaine connell <cconnell@mesa5.mesa.colorado.edu>
Subject:      Re: VANAGON digest 426

 

On Wed, 19 Apr 1995, Isabel Mergulhao wrote:

> OK, doctors and mechanics, get ready to make a diagnosis.
> 
> The patient is my 1969 VW Camper (red, of course).
> 
> After driving about 400 km in cool, dry conditions two things happened 
> simultaneously.  My alternator/generator light (red) came on and stayed 
> on.  At the same time a strange but not very loud noise came from the 
> engine compartment - sort of a 'whupping' sound.  We finished the drive 
> as we were only 5 km from home.  We suspected that the sound may have 
> been a broken belt of some kind and that the light came on because the 
> battery was consequently no longer charging.
> 
> Upon inspection of the engine compartment we found oil had spattered the 
> inside of the compartment.  The only obvious belt, the fan belt, is 
> intact and does not appear to be slipping.  The engine did not appear to 
> be overly hot at that time (although that observation is not 100%).
> 
> I have not seriously worked on figuring out what's wrong yet.  This has 
> much to do with the fact that I am a mechanical gumby and it's much 
> easier to ask those who might *know* the answer.
> 
> My bible ("How to keep your VW alive") does not seem to link the red 
> light with anything that might explain the oil.  Is it two problems or 
> one?  What is/are the problems?  What kind of repair effort am I looking 
> at here?
> 
> Any guesses would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Tyler Jordan
> 69 VW Camper (Big Daddy aka The Little Red Rocket)
> (on my SO's account - isabel@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca)
> 




Okay...
Here's my GUESS.
or at least my SUGGESTION.

1)  A "Whupping" sound and the red light action sounds similar to an 
experience I had with a couple of generators.  --- The shaft bearings 
were beginning to wear and the pulley was sooner or later going to begin 
eating into the generator itself, I found lots of tiny metal filings all 
over my engine compt.  This "whupping" sound was also indicated by an 
obviously less than circular motion of the gen. pulley.
I replaced the generator.


2)  For oil all over the compt. I would look at the multiple joints in 
the oil spout.  My spout would often come loose at one or more of these 
joints and make a tremendous mess.  Once I stopped in Albany TX and 
bought some silicon sealer which solved the problem for a while.  (It 
was also entertaining for all the folks in this little west TX town.)


These are just guesses, and an attempt to get this discussion moving.

Corbin Connell
'65 split window.
Good Luck