Date:         Sat, 28 Jun 1997 23:30:44 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         vwbus@netbiz.net
Subject:      Voltage regulators and Battery mats

Well buttoned up the heat exchangers, and I'd adjusted the valves and 
changed the oil with them off, about the only convenient time to do a 
T4 engined valve adjustment, so I'm making a full tune up of it 
putzing about the engine compartment with it running adjusting idle, 
dwell, timing and I hear a bubbling hissing and poping.  I look over at the 
battery and it's boiling over, well shit.  Now the '77 doesn't get 
much (any) use so I figure damn a cell has croaked and the rest are 
overcharging (I know I should buy a trickle charger thing).  Well I 
pull it out and the battery is covered with acid and I'm pissed this 
is a gorgeous van after all.  So I check the specific gravities, hmmn 
all very overcharged.  So I put it back in and pull out the 
voltmeter, 13.55 ignition off (this is about .4 too high) and with it 
running, the output is locked at 13.9 volts doesn't change.  Well I 
go and get the regulator out of the '78 swap em and voila, the 
voltage dances nicely between 13.3 and 13.75 as it cycles.  So I take 
out the battery and hose it off, wash with baking soda hose it off, 
then look at the tray.  2 years back when I bought it I'd touched up 
the small wear spots and minor rust with a wire wheel and some good 
primer.  Never bothered to do more, when the engine finally needs 
rebuilt I'll blast and paint it for real.  But I'd put down one of 
the "rust rugs" from RMMW.  This thing gets the big thumbs up, I have 
no idea how long the regulator has been kaput, maybe since I bought 
it and quite some acid had come out, rug was quite damp.  Took it out
and I got the soda solution out ready to be apalled, and funny thing, no
fizzing when I scrubbed out the tray!!!  The acid and the stuff in 
the rug had congealed a bit into some sort of fairly neutral jelly 
coating and no further damage had occured to the tray.   I finished 
washing it out, then installed another rug I happened to have, 
reinstalled the batter and everything as good as new.   If you don't 
have one of these down under your battery go buy one, the RMMW 
version is jjust heavy chemical treated felt, I've also seen plastic 
coated versions.  The RMMW one worked nicely.
As to the regulator I pop it apart tomorrow, they are generally 
repairable, typically you just need a points file to take to the 
relay contacts and I think they have a little adjustment built in as 
well, been a couple of years since I've played with one.


John
vwbus@netbiz.net