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chaosisme Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 1256 Location: Orange County, Ca
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:34 pm Post subject: Bad voltage regulator/generator problems? |
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When I bought my car it had an Echlin voltage regulator in it that took a crap and somehow killed my battery. After replacing my dead AGM battery with a conventional battery and putting in an old style Bosch regulator, everything was fine.
Lately, my car has been grumpier than usual, and usually my generator light will flicker when the car is cold, but it always goes away once the car is warm. A few days ago I noticed that at startup, the light wasnt flickering anymore, it was now solid. The next day, it was still doing the same thing, solid light at idle, but when I revved the motor, it would disappear suddenly, and I could hear a hard click from the regulator. The day after that, my regulator started to sound like somebody was trying to send me a telegraph, it would click hard when the generator light would go off, and then click softly intermittently. Finally yesterday I tried to start the car and it just cranked forever (usually starts first or second crank) and then when it did start, I couldnt rev it at all, it would just fall on its face.
I just replaced the regulator (a Bosch Mexico) with a good used Bosch Germany one. At startup the generator light is still on solid and then clicks off VERY loudly with revs. However, the weird starting problem I had the day before is gone.
I know that if/when a regulator goes bad it can kill the generator. What should I check to see that my generator is still working? The brushes are good, I checked/replaced them a few months ago.
On a side note, I noticed when I shift from first to second and give it gas, the car hesitates for a moment, and thats new too. Before, throttle response was instantaneous. I know the FI system is finicky when it comes to voltage, could it have something to do with my regulator problem? _________________ '65 1500 S [quareback]
'68 FI Sunroof Squareback
'70 Westy
OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's
Last edited by chaosisme on Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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chaosisme Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 1256 Location: Orange County, Ca
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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Replaced my generator, problem seems fixed. _________________ '65 1500 S [quareback]
'68 FI Sunroof Squareback
'70 Westy
OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's |
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Mike Fisher Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2006 Posts: 17963 Location: Eugene, OR
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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Good, I saw your square on a tow truck the other night! _________________ 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 |
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chaosisme Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 1256 Location: Orange County, Ca
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 4:08 pm Post subject: |
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Mike Fisher wrote: |
Good, I saw your square on a tow truck the other night! |
Yeah, I started it up after work and my coworkers saw a lightshow coming from the rear of the car. The generator was throwing sparks like crazy while at idle. I decided not to take any chances and had it towed. Replaced my generator and checked the battery (it was a little low on water, I think it was ring overcharged) and my car was good to go. It's running a lot better/smoother now. I suspect the generator was crapping out slowly for awhile, my last fill up netted me only 13.8 mpg. _________________ '65 1500 S [quareback]
'68 FI Sunroof Squareback
'70 Westy
OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's |
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chaosisme Samba Member
Joined: August 29, 2005 Posts: 1256 Location: Orange County, Ca
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 8:16 pm Post subject: |
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New problem.
After replacing both the regulator and generator, my regulator is still clicking softly at startup. If I try to rev the engine, it cuts out and wants to stall. If I feather the pedal, I can bring the RPM's up, and the regulator will click rapidly.
Once the car warms up, the problem seems to go away. Any suggestions?
I did put the new regulator in before I replaced the bad generator, could I have damaged it already or something? _________________ '65 1500 S [quareback]
'68 FI Sunroof Squareback
'70 Westy
OCT3 - Orange County Type 3's |
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