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Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:12 pm

My generator seems to have gone *poof*, and I would like to know why, and if there is any way of fixing it. I will give the whole story just in case I am missing anything. If you don’t want the whole story just skip to the last paragraph, but I find the devil is in the details so I include them.

About 4 weeks ago me and the misses to save on gas decided to commute together to work. She doesn’t like traveling in the beetle it doesn’t heat up fast enough and the passenger seat is just springs and cloth.

We had a nice morning so we took the bug. It was idling very rough, and it would idle down and die at stops like if it had a vacuum leak. When I got it back home I checked for leaks (none found), coil spark (weak orange), and fuel pump which ranged from 2 pounds to 4 pounds which I thought was odd.

Did a little fiddling with the idle, and decided to take it for a test spin as I needed some oil for a rapidly approaching oil change (3000 miles). Exiting the parking lot it behaved as it had no gas in the carb. The bug promptly died, and I checked the fuel pump line. The line from the pump to the carb was dry. I assume the pump had died, and had the bug towed home. I didn’t really like that fuel pump, it produced too much pressure (6 pounds if recall correctly) and had to put a bunch of cork gaskets under it. Of course when I got it out of the bug it squirted gas all over the place.

Error on the side of caution, picked up a new fuel pump, coil, and ceramic pedestal (new pedestal is 3mm higher then the old one). Installed it all goodies, and started it up. It sounded pretty good, but the generator light came up. Turned the bug off because the generator light is generally bad news. I checked this and that and found the metal belt around the generator was touching one of the bolts. I shuffled the belt, and started it again, and the light was still on. I checked the battery and got my 12v, and checked it again at 3000rpm still 12v so it’s not charging.

The Generator is only 6 months old, so I am a little annoyed. I don’t mind throwing a little money at a problem once in a while, but not a new generator, coil, and fuel pump every 6 months. What happen to my generator, and how can I avoid it in the future?

Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:07 pm

If you grounded the D+ terminal to the hold down strap then
you probably ruined it.

Why was it loose :oops:

2nd,You also need to check the fuel pump psi if you put another
pump and flange on. (Ceramic) :?:

Where are you buying your parts?

I have the same coil on my engine that's 40 yr's old

Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:19 pm

Test your generator:
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/gen.htm

If it is not putting out 30v+ at max output, the generator has gone bad. If the generator output is good, suspect the VR.

I agree w/ "old DKP driver", if your gen strap was touching the large D+ terminal, the generator may be "toast". :cry:

Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:54 pm

Just ran out with the flash light to check and it was DF, and not D+.

I had loosened up the strap because the screw holding the strap was eating my knuckles when I put the fuel pump in.

I am pretty certain (not positive) my coil problems is the wiring which a hacked together mess of wrong colors, gauges, ect. I been avoiding running fresh wire for the coil because I can't get it to feed through the rubber grommets, I think it's time I just man up and do it.

I do my best to buy all my parts from Fibercraft in Reno, which almost exclusively does VWs. They have been extremely helpful in the past so I don't think they are selling junk coils.

I will check the max out put tomorrow (thanks for the link), and report back. Freaking frustrating, can't even tell if the idle problem is gone.

Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:44 am

Kabasue wrote: Just ran out with the flash light to check and it was DF, and not D+.
Sorry, but that is not much better.

Grounding the DF would force the generator to work at maximum output all the time. The generator would burn up after a short while.

In the test instructions above it specifically states NOT to ground the DF for more than a few seconds to avoid damage to the generator.

Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:31 pm

I got nothing on the generator test, but it might have been due to me being an inconfident boob. I cleaned the contacts and reattached the generator wiring, and viola the generator light turned off. I retested the battery and when I revved the engine the needle shot down to 0 (at least it moved). Think I need a good voltage detector just for the beetle, not the one I got because half the time I am just guessing at what this thing is telling me.

I will give it a drive test tomorrow to see if it’s going to idle correctly. Is it possible to have a intermittent vacuum leak. Say near a gasket, where when the gasket becomes soaked with oil or gas it plugs the leak. Then after a day or two it dries out and becomes a leak again?