'69 FI Squareback: The Continuing (Mis)Adventures

[D/A/N]

[KTPhil]

[D/A/N]

We haven't gotten to adjust the steering box yet as a host of other little issues have suddenly piled up. Even after a bad brake switch and an upcoming steering box adjustment, the car still feels neglected and we're back with a list of misadventures:

1) On Friday, a few hours before we were supposed to go away, the key broke off in the ignition. Ultimately, AAA sent us a locksmith and he had the broken part out in under a minute. Of course that was after I spent an hour or so trying to fish it out with paperclips and whatnot but at least it was fixed. It seems like the reason it broke is that there's now some "stickiness" in the lock cylinder. Since Friday, it sometimes takes up to a minute of fiddling with the key to be able to turn it to the on position. We tried spraying some WD-40 into the cylinder but it had no effect. I'm thinking I'll replace the lock cylinder. I have a lead on a NOS German one, but I want to confirm that this is the correct part # 113-905-853. Anyone with a parts manual out there?

Drove 120 miles on Saturday without issue. Sunday morning was a different story and a series of issues.

2) Generator light is coming on at idle, though not all the time. Drove maybe 10 minutes yesterday morning and when I came to a stop sign the gen. light started flickering. It went away at higher RPM's. By the time we parked a few minutes later it was on more or less solidly at idle. Before we went hiking, the battery read around 12.5 at idle and when revved it would climb up to 14.2 or so. Got a reading of 12.4 once the car was off. When we got back about 4 hours later, the battery was up to 12.8V so I stopped worrying though I did think it odd that voltage climbed while just sitting there. We drove about 50 miles to a rest stop. When we started it up, the gen light came on and flickered through the parking lot. Drove another 40 miles or so and then it flickered and/or glowed through traffic until we had another highway run. It came back on after getting off the highway and we were driving across Manhattan in local traffic. Drove over a bridge and then local roads to home and the light didn't come on at all. Battery read b/w 12.5 and 12.8 at idle and climbed to over 14 when revved. With headlights on at idle the battery voltage kept dropping and dropping.....I stopped taking readings at 12.3 but the light didn't come back on.

I'm not finding any smoking gun here as the light will come on regardless of whether accessories are on. Generally, it waits until the engine is warm but even then it doesn't always come on. We've got a 2 yr old solid state Bosch regulator. All the connections are tight and the regulator is tight to the body. Nothing loose on generator and at least the top brush is fine. I didn't turn it over to look at the other.

Run Bentley tests and look for weak link? Problem is that the light doesn't come on reliably or at "convenient" times so I'm not necessarily ready to run tests when it happens. I figure that if I test while the light isn't coming on, I won't find anything. What to do?

3) The speedo started squealing like a maniac again. Last time was back in the spring and we lubed the cable and the speedo which fixed it. Tried that again but nothing doing....still squealed. This time, I'd already taken the e-clip off at the wheel so when it started making noise, we pulled the cable out of the hub into the car. Oddly, the more we pulled it in, the quieter it got. Now, the cable is now so far into the car and bent at such an angle that it hits my knee while operating the clutch. However, it works perfectly! No more noise and the needle isn't bouncing as it has been forever. It's not a long-term solution though because the cable is irritatingly in the way. I figure the speedometer and/or the cable don't generally require re-lubrication every 6 months so either one or both of them is crapping out. Seems obvious that it's a bad cable, but I wonder if I'm overlooking something? Overnight, it got down to 14* where we were and didn't get above 35* until we were close to home so I thought maybe the cold was having fun with the cable or the lubricant.

4) Just for fun, the exhaust started popping again when letting off the throttle.

[ataraxia]

On the 69, isn't the lock cylinder and the electrical portion two different pieces? If so, you should be able to pop out (clipped in) the lock cylinder and clean it-there isn't much to it unless you've got bent pins internally.

The part number is correct, per my book, btw.

Electrical gremlins are a bitch...I've got nothing for you there, unfortunately, as I'm like Bugs Bunny and the gremlin when it comes to electrical issues.
http://youtu.be/0GuX0NEfxiw?t=2m0s

Which part number did you use for a speedo cable? I have found that there are three or four listed as correct while only one is close to the correct length.

[Bobnotch]

[D/A/N]

Thanks for the replies! I guess I'll remove and clean the lock cylinder before going and buying another one.

In terms of the generator light....I'm vexed. 20 miles of driving so far today and no light. 12.5V before first cold start of the day and 14 at idle just before parking after driving around in the rain with the wipers and headlights on. 12.8 upon returning to the car after a 30 minute errand. I feel like I might as well not even bother taking readings until it acts up again. Assuming it does.

As for the speedo cable....I've never replaced it. For all I know, this is the OG part. I have a replacement at home and can look at the part # later. Just for fun, here's what the bend looks like

[ataraxia]

[D/A/N]

[ataraxia]

[D/A/N]

Well, after having 0 generator light issues on Monday and yesterday, it suddenly came on again today one block from home after driving 10 miles from work. Nothing was different about how I drove yesterday or today. Same roads, same traffic, same accessories on. When I parked, it was idling kind of crummy and I heard a slight whining noise in the cabin which turned out to be coming from the generator. Voltage at the battery at idle was only 13. Not sure what to do next as this is such an intermittent problem. I almost wonder if using the heater booster fan is sometimes draining the battery and fudging up the charging system. Or if the charging system is fudged which is allowing the fan to drain the battery. Or something.

[Mike Fisher]

The flickering generator light is a known quirk for VW's & is not worth worrying about. Manual transmissions with their low idle speeds contribute to it. The booster fan could do it too? Remember it is 45 year old technology & will never run as smooth as our new cars. Don't fret unless it won't start. Relax a little and enjoy the Adventure!
_________________
https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[Bobnotch]

[Intrinsic]

Regarding your generator light.

I did an analysis of the current demands on my '70 with various electrical items turned on. On my car, with the stock 30A generator, I found there was only a 3A (10%) margin of generating capacity as the car demanded 27A at full electrical load. My findings are that the generator was very closely sized to the electrical demands of the car in its stock configuration. If you have non stock items which place additional electrical demands, coupled with any inefficiencies in the 40 year old wiring, you may easily exceed the capacity of the generator.

You could verify this quite easily by measuring the current output at the generator with a small meter or gauge while you drive the car. This way you could see how the generator is coping with the electrical demands. From there you could continue your analysis to identify and prioritize your current draws or losses and then look for ways to increase the electrical efficiency at those points.

[Tram]

[Bobnotch]

[D/A/N]

Well, I didn't use the blower at all today and the generator light still came on 25 minutes into my drive home. This at least establishes the conditions under which it comes on (when it does come on): nighttime, at idle, warm engine, headlights on. During daytime driving, no light at all and I've even cupped my hands over the fuel gauge while idling at stoplights to see if it comes on. Does this point to me investigating any one particular component over another?

[eyetzr]

I think the issue you may be having as bobnotch said is the cold & various items being on or not. Remember old cars have issues & with the crap we put on the roads & for the most part non recycled metals in old cars we will have issues. I would start with cleaning all grounding points & putting a little lube on them. Daunting task, but it may help.
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I think he meant "rare", as in "not well-done"

[Bobnotch]

[D/A/N]

We do have H4 headlights but those have been in for well over a year. We drove the car all over OR and WA last year at holiday time with those lights, the blower, etc. without incident but it's true that we don't have a very long sample period since by the time the car came back east, it was already mid-April.

To throw another wrench in the works, the light came on this morning on my way to work and I was using zero accessories. It started coming on during the high idle phase of warmup but went away when driving in any gear. Once I was on the highway, the light would come on if I dipped below 45mph. To make it just a little more annoying, the light went off during the last 1/3 of my drive and never came back, even at idle. Go figure. This weekend I'll be able to check out both brushes and look at various grounds and connectors, but it would help to know if what I'm describing points in any particular direction or not.

[ataraxia]

Is the belt too loose?