New/old problem

[crvc]

I have a '67 bug with a '73 chassis. I spent the past week removing the engine so I could clear the clogged heat risers. They're clear and I put the engine back in. It runs fine but the green idiot light stays on when the engine is running. It worked normally before I pulled the engine. I took the switch out and tested it. It works fine. Then I connected the bulb to the switch with a 12' length of 18 guage wire with female plugs at each end. When idling the red and green lights are on but both go out when I rev the engine.

So I know the switch and bulb are working normally. The problem has to be the blue/green wire. My schematic shows it connecting from the switch to the bulb. There the three bulbs connect in a line to the first fuse. While fiddling I burned out three 16amp fuses. I'm guessing I melted insulation somewhere inside the harness.

Another problem is the battery doesn't stay charged. Is this possibly connected to the possible wire damage that's possibly inside the harness?

I could solve the green light problem by drilling a hole in the firewall and running a new wire from the switch to the idiot light. But if the battery won't stay charged I haven't fixed anything.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA,

kevin

[Jim Ed]

Does it have a generator?

I think they need to be polarized ?

Sorry I do not have more time.
These links might help:
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

http://www.vw-resource.com/

...a '67 bug with a '73 chassis?
Do you mean it has a '67 engine in a '73 chassis?

[aussiebug]

Jim,

crcv's problem has nothing to do with polarizing a generator - THAT only needs to be done if the car has been sitting for months unused, and the generator has lost it's residual magnetism. And it does not ever apply to alternators at all if that's what he has (73 engine?) - they never need polarizing since they use the tiny current through the Alt dash light to excite them into action when the engine is started.

crcv,

First check the wiring on the three bulbs in the dash. These have a common connection via the base (can) of each bulb - to 12v+ via the ignition. The bottom of each bulb (the button) goes to the individual circuit where it is EARTHED to complete the connection so the light will glow. So it's the reverse of normal wiring where the base is earthed and the button has 12v + on it.

From your description, it does sound like you've somehow blown the blue/green wire.

You could try a new wire as you suggested and once you have the engine running OK again you can test to any shorts as follows...g\

Get a multimeter. With the engine off, disconnect the + lead from the battery, and place the multimeter (with it's high current setting) into that circuit. The red lead on multimeter to the + battery post and the other multimeter lead to the now disconnected battery clamp on the main red lead. If you don't see any current, reduce the multimeter's amp setting to something smaller if it has that facility - to see if you have a smaller current leak. If you have a current showing, then start pulling fuses one at a time until you find which circuit is using current - that will narrow it down. Please note that if you have a radio which remembers it's stations, it WILL use a small current continuously to keep it's memory working, so these are usually wired direct - not through the ignition swtich, or the radio would loose it's memory every time you turned the ignition off.

Hope that helps.

[crvc]

Thanks for all the help. I don't know for certain what the problems were but suddenly everything is working normally. I put in a new generator and with the multimeter I can see it charging the battery. I pulled the blue/green wire off the oil pressure switch and attached it to a new blue wire. Then tried to pull it through the harness at the voltage regulator. But got about half done before the line broke. So I pulled the new blue line back out then went in through a gap in the firewall and ran it under the carpeting all the way to the front and plugged it into the oil idiot light.

The red bulb wasn't working either. Using a drycell I checked that it can light with power. I noticed the blue/green wire heading into the harness in front of the voltage regulator. I checked with the multimeter that it's not grounding anywhere, then cut the excess off and added a female plug and connected it to 61 on the voltage regulater. Then plugged the other end into the red bulb. Eureka, everything works. So anyone else working on this bug will see the blue/green wire going to red light and the blue wire is going to the green light, backwards from what the color schematic shows.

Now I have to deal with the fan scraping the housing. I hear it scraping at start-up but the sound goes away quickly. Nevertheless, I'll add some shims this weekend.

kevin

[Jim Ed]

Thanks for all the help. I don't know for certain what the problems

Now I have to deal with the fan scraping the housing. I hear it scraping at start-up but the sound goes away quickly. Nevertheless, I'll add some shims this weekend.
kevin

Sometimes that scraping noise will go away if you loosen the generator hold down strap and move the fan housing a little in and out, forward and backward, until the scraping sound goes away.

[crvc]

I found a website on U-tube that explained replacing a generator. The guy mentioned moving the strap or pushing/pulling on the shroud. I tried all that and it didn't help. I think I needed a shim on both sides of the fan. Right now I've got two on one side.

kevin

[crvc]

I spent the weekend dealing with bug problems. I pulled the new generator off. The fan was loose and the shims were chewed up. For anyone planning to remove the generator, it becomes a much easier job if you're able to lift the shroud an inch or two. If you can do that you remove the four small bolts and you've got the generator/fan combo in your hands.

I couldn't raise the shroud and had to remove the large nut by reaching around to the front where there's no room for much of anything. I put the socket on a cheater bar and turned the generator shaft counter-clockwise using an open-end 19mm wrench on the rear of the generator. Once the pulley is tapped off there's a flat spot that the 19mm wrench can fit in to hold or turn the shaft.

Once the new one was in I used a socket wrench to tighten the large nut. Because there's not much room I couldn't get it as tight as I wanted. I was ratcheting with two fingers. So I replaced the socket wrench with the cheater bar to stop movement at the front and then turned the shaft another full circle clockwise with the open wrench and a 3ft length of pipe at the rear.

This would have made more sense if I'd thought to take photos as I was working. When I had the generator on my work bench I placed 2 new washers on both sides of the fan. That stopped all scraping noise. Now that it's back in the car it seems to be working perfectly.

So this all started with me removing the engine so I could clear plugged heat risers. Once they were open I put the engine back in and found the green idiot light was on. Then I found the generator had died. I bought a new one and it seemed to work, that is my multimeter showed the battery charging. But there was a lot of metal scraping noise so I pulled the generator off. Now it's back in and hopefully I'm done with monkeying for a while.

kevin

[aussiebug]

crvc

The correct torque for the fan nut is 40ftlbs. Yes it's a tight squeeze in there, but the 36mm socket which fits the axle nuts also fits the fan nut and usually with a 1 or 2 inch extension bar you can get a ratchet or torque wrench on to the socket OK. When loosening the fan nut, rather than removing the pulley nut and using the flat on the shaft to hold the gen shaft still - the correct method is to leave the pulley tigh on the shaft, and drop a thin screw driver down between the front (front is front of car) pulley half, through one of the slots (in the pulley half) provided. then turn the gen until the screw driver catches on the gen bolt heads in behind the pulley - the same method is used to tighten the pulley nut when replacing the fan belt.

Glad to hear it's running smooth again.

[crvc]

Thanks for the note.

I've been constantly worrying that the nut could come loose again.

Stoooopid me, I forgot that I have a torque wrench and it's small enough that it probably would have fit in that space in front of the shroud. I used a 36mm socket and half inch drive socket wrench to get the nut off when first dealing with the problem. I think this weekend I'll have the time to jamb a screwdriver into the pulley and see if I can get the torque wrench and 36mm socket onto the nut to check if it's anywhere close to 40ftlbs.

Thanks again,

kevin