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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12710
Location: Western Canada
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 Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:32 am Post subject: Alternator issue |
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I just ran into a problem that you fellows may be familiar with. I don't know for sure but I thought I would mention it here. I normally hang out on the Buggy/engine performance threads and they didn't pick up on this one.
I took the engine out of a '73 rolled over Westy and put it in my Manx copy(sacrilege I know!) with all of the stock cooling system etc. So the alternator did not charge. Rechecked the wiring changes - seemed right. Ok, fine - bought a new alternator and regulator and put them in. While the Missus and I were fiddling with other details we accidently bumped the + battery wire over to touch the + battery post. No big deal right? That is where it belongs anyway.
Guess again! The smoke started to roll out from under the Buggy and I grabbed (ouch! hot!) the + battery cable and yanked it away from where it tried to weld itself to the post. Smoke everywhere, smoke coming out of the new alternator!
Oh crap!
Must be wired wrong!
Much head scratching and another new alternator and regulator later all is good including how I had it wired.
Here is what was wrong: When I took the shield/air director/you guys know what I mean. The tin piece that directs cooling air from the fan through the alteranator off, there was a few reminants of a weather strip between it and the alternator body. I cleaned the bits off and did not think about it again as a good seal there seemed a bit overkill for my purpose.
Well sir! Without that bit of weather strip the tin piece actually makes contact with the diode plate and grounds it out! Pretty close quarters back there!
You guys probably already know this but I thought I would mention it and save someone $270 to learn it the hard way like I did!
Merv |
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rusty busty
Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2015
Posts: 310
Location: Vancouver BC
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 50338
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 3:28 pm Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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You need a small diameter washer on the D+ post as well.
Why Bosch will not at least put a warning label on the alternator is beyond me, hundred if not thousands of bus owners have had this problem and likely a bus or two has burn to the ground because of it. |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12710
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:24 pm Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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Yes it was actually the washer that has the arc mark on it!
By rights then I should get a refund on the new alternator. |
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jtauxe 
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 5780
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 8:58 am Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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| oprn wrote: |
Yes it was actually the washer that has the arc mark on it!
By rights then I should get a refund on the new alternator. |
Yes. You should absolutely take that back to where you bought it and explain that the alternator, as they handed it to you, has a known flaw (although unknown to you at the time). They should give you a replacement that you can modify (fix) before you put it in (see that thread referenced above).
Maybe (?) if the remanufacturers keep getting these returned, they will finally figure out their problem. Meanwhile, we just have to live with it, and innocents like you get burned. Sometimes literally.
I have run into this problem at least 3 times, but now I have finally learned, and will always be cutting the stud, installing a smaller washer, and installing a home-made gasket.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD
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Amskeptic
Samba Member
Joined: October 18, 2002
Posts: 8568
Location: All Across The Country
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| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:19 am Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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| jtauxe wrote: |
Yes. You should absolutely take that back to where you bought it and explain that the alternator, as they handed it to you, has a known flaw (although unknown to you at the time). They should give you a replacement that you can modify (fix) before you put it in (see that thread referenced above).
Maybe (?) if the remanufacturers keep getting these returned, they will finally [address] their problem. |
^^ this ^^
_________________
www.itinerant-air-cooled.com |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12710
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 4:27 am Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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| Thanks all! Too bad there isn't a way to let the general public know about this. |
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SGKent
Samba Member
Joined: October 30, 2007
Posts: 41031
Location: Citrus Heights CA (Near Sacramento)
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:59 am Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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| oprn wrote: |
| Thanks all! Too bad there isn't a way to let the general public know about this. |
There is. It has only been mentioned here in this forum about 10,000 times in the last 15 years. Hang around here more often. 
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin |
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oprn
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2016
Posts: 12710
Location: Western Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:41 pm Post subject: Re: Alternator issue |
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| Well sir, I have been hanging around on the Samba now since November of 2016, a bit here as I do have a '69 Bus, on the buggy and engine thread and a few others and it did not come up even on a search. |
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