Help with Go Westy alternator harness install.

[mlbdriver]

Has any one installed this ? I need assistance finding where the blue and red smaller wires connect to on the starter side. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Aloha. Ben

[Altoona]

The blue and smaller red wires don't attach at the starter, they go to the power distribution box at the back left of the engine bay (when looking at it from the rear).

[mlbdriver]

[mlbdriver]

[Wildthings]

The original harness ran the power from the alternator to the relay box and then on to the starter. The new harness runs the power from the alternator to the starter and then tees back to the the relay box, which is a much more practical setup.

You are going to want to remove the old wires from the alternator to the relay box and from the relay box to the starter.

The blue wire goes to the alternator warning light on the dash.

Not sure why VW wired the larger wires up the way they did, maybe had something to do with making the assembly line run smoother, but from an engineering point of view it was a snafu.

[crazyvwvanman]

The GoWesty harness has both red wires attached at the alternator stud. Then the smaller of the two goes to the wiring box stud and the larger red runs to the starter stud. This is the same route as the stock harness beginning mid 86 but GoWesty increases the wire size.

The original way VW did it with 2 smaller reds from alternator to wiring box was just a vestige from when they used 65 amp alternators that had an embedded 3 pin connector for the harness to attach. 2 of the pins were for the red wires, to divide the load over the 2 wires and the 2 wires went to the wiring box stud before being distributed. The 65 amp alternators were used many years in other markets and the "mistake" was in keeping the same wiring scheme with the 90 amp alternators we got here all along in WBX from 83 on.

Mark

[mlbdriver]

So do I run the wires to the vertical box or the horizontal box in the rest left side?

[Altoona]

If you follow the path of your original harness you will find that it terminates in the vertical box. The red wire goes to the power distribution stud and the blue wire gets the original plastic connector transferred over to it and plugged in just as the original one was.

[Timwhy]

_________________
'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[mlbdriver]

Successful install thanks for all the help!!!!!

[insyncro]

Glad you got it.

For those looking for excellent quality and amazing product support.....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1648432

Jay is the Man!

[seventyfo]

I just installed Jay's relay kit and when the time comes I'll be getting this from him too.^^^. Great product
_________________
85 Vanagon GL Westy GW 2.2 (Rebuilt by YT)


"I don't know you well enough to care about your comments". Watkins Cravey

[unibagel]

[Flash Kaleo]

I did this less than a month ago. Check out this thread for pictures:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=547002&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
_________________
1986 Wolfsburg Weekender

[msinabottle]

I may have mentioned this--but after my last long drive I found my starter battery quite low, and wondered how much current Winston's alternator was pumping into my Yandina set-up. Not, apparently, enough. When I added my own extra wire from the alternator to the Go Westy Gear Reduction Starter, for which see HERE:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6008019

I had noted how corroded and broken the existing alternator harness was. That had to be part of the problem. I also ordered one of those 14.5 voltage regulators for sale on Dave's Volvo page:

http://www.davebarton.com/AdjustableVoltage.html

and also one of those GoWesty alternator mount reinforcements, the one that works on a 1.9, and their upgraded alternator harness. Jay no longer makes or sells his, drat it.

Today's work began with testing the alternator, my gearhead friend started Winston--first time since October--and ran him up to 3000 RPM. I tried to test voltage with my multi-tester...

SPARKS AND CARBON!

and every time I tried to test voltage with it today, I blew fuses and tripped a breaker in the house.



I think all is not well with it.



Using a normal battery tester plugged into a socket, I got a reading of 13.7 running, which dropped down to as low as 12.8 when we turned on accessories. So I think that all was not well with THAT, either.

I pulled the alternator and installed the new voltage regulator and the mount reinforcement plate, that went well enough--then I had to learn the difference between the 'relay' box and the 'junction' box on the left side of the engine compartment... I browsed here. Then...

Unpleasant discoveries... There is just a male blade connector on the back of Winston's alternator, I can make an adapter fitting... and how FREAKING HARD IT WAS to untangle and remove the existing alternator harness after figuring out how to disconnect it (with the board's help) from the junction box. Which I had never had open before.

There's a slight coolant drip at Winston's plastic bleed fitting, I will CAREFULLY tighten some clamps. I got the Agony and the Ecstasy without the ecstasy as I lay flat on my back under Winston for hours as I untangled the old harness and dust and debris dripped down upon my face.



Broke and cut some clips and cable ties, that's mendable... But here's the thing:

Winston's harness isn't like any I've seen on the Samba, or on EKTA or in the Bentley. There is a wire in the same outer rubber and plastic tube running from the junction box to the starter on the OLD harness. I had a horrid time figuring that out because nothing mentioned it in my research. Although that cable is in the same rubber tube as the 'factory' harness, the ends are crimped on.

1)Could it have something to do with Winston's removed air conditioning? That might explain the lack of references. '84's with A/C were freaky and don't show up much around here.

2)Is it a separate wire that just got enclosed within a protective sleeve with the alternator harness? Does everybody with a 1.9 Digijet have one?

3)Should I cut it free from the old harness and reinstall it? Or would the new GoWesty harness with its own wire straight to the starter from the alternator, running alongside my own, be enough? Winston was running and starting just fine, just not charging enough with the alternator, which I think I'll have tested before I reinstall it.

Boy did I search. Boy did I read. And boy am I at a loss.

Help?

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[msinabottle]

Help?

The circuit diagram in my Bentley SEEMS to show a black wire running from the junction to the starter--which, I should have noted, is a GoWesty Hitachi/HiTorque/Nippon Denso reduction gear starter

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=211103

that has never failed on me...

<KNOCK!><KNOCK>!

But i have already, apparently, successfully altered the old circuit with my own heavy wire running from the alternator to the starter, and there are now THREE wires on the big starter post...

1) OEM, looks good, to the battery
2) My welding cable to the alternator, also looks good
3) This weird wire running from the junction post to the starter, apparently since the Van was built since it's under the alternator harness loom tube.

GoWesty sold me that Hitachi Starter in 2007, but Blazer installed it, and one post on some archive mentioned, 'adding a wire.' Maybe that's my mystery wire, which I can't see the use of with power now going on one big wire DIRECTLY from the alternator to the starter, and SOON on TWO wires adding the one on the GoWesty modified harness, and all this wire does is make another circuit the long way via the junction post.

But I am a humble man with much to be humble about.



I distinctly said,

HELP!

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[crazyvwvanman]

The 83-early 86 wbx alternator harness was wired slightly differently than later ones. The replacements are like the later design.

Mark

[msinabottle]

Thank you! A response!

So should I omit this wire which is NOT part of the original harness, as far as I can tell? It's under the same rubber tube, but separate.

I think I can get away with it, but I would so hate to find out that I can't... Might it do some good? Might it do some...

HARM?



I am not whimpering.

Much.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[crazyvwvanman]

I would install the replacement harness without any additional wires between the junction points.

Mark

[msinabottle]

That's positive and clear--and I thank you.

I do think I'll bend Larry Blazer's ear tomorrow if I can. I'm not sure anybody knows the Vanagon better except his brother Jim... OR Mike Labate, who has been... oddly silent.

<added>

Larry thinks any lost voltage will more than be made up by the two new wires. It goes, although I did drop a note to GoWesty technical support.

<yet more added>

Heard from Brian Lutz at GoWesty, who wrote me two very nice replies. He said that if that 'third' wire was as I described it, then the new harness would be enough to supply power to the starter, offering to look at photos if I still wasn't sure. That truly DOES settle it--and will for anyone else looking at this thread, unless, of course, Winston won't... start...



But, he will. I'm one of those customers with nothing at all bad to say about GoWesty, Van Cafe, or Bus Depot--or our other aftermarket. The quality of our vehicles and our community is reflected in the merchants with whom we do business.

I think I'll use an aluminum pop rivet to lock a spade connector 'rat tail' to the Alternator Light circuit, under heat-shrink or fusion tape--and this time wear goggles when I'm on my back under Winston.



Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."