Hi all, New guy hear just brought my first bay 3 days ago and broke down on the drive home. I stopped for petrol and she wouldn't start after switching off the engine. I have the battery warning light on the dash but only very faint. Battery was reading around 9 volts with engine running. I have removed battery fully charged it and it is holding charge so would guess the battery is ok? Haynes Manuel has the below image for testing the alternator. However I cannot find the regulator shown on images A and C? can anyone help me locate this please. Also could someone tell me is the D- the casing? as in I am making an earth to the casing? Thanks Pete
All, below image is of my alternator. the blue wire on the left also has a black wire to the left of it going into the same connector. Thanks all Pete
Welcome Pete, dynamo man myself I'm sure someone will be along soon With engine running battery should be 13.8-14V if all is well, often dodgy connections can be your problem so give them all a good clean Good luck Andy
Thanks for the quick reply Valveandy, Connections look pretty clean but I will clean them anyway. I should have explained better. With the engine running battery is dropping power constantly nothing from the alternator is getting through to it. If I turn my lights on wipers etc. it really starts to drop power fast. I put my multimeter onto the red and blue wires on top of the alternator with the engine running and got a read out of 7 volts this was with no electrics on just a running engine. Hope that helps. Pete
On my type 4 2.0 the alternator has a external reg which is located on the fire wall on the right hand side. I have had lots of charging issues and I would change the reg first, and take it from there. There is a earth strap under neath the left hand side just behind the rear wheel and is bolted to suspension arm and then to gearbox. Try cleaning up the terminals/bolts etc. Does sound to me the alternator is at fault.
The alternator you have has an internal regulator and the pictures you were looking at are for a dynamo so explains why not making sense! Check the bulb at instrument panel first (when ignition on and engine not running does the battery or G light come on? It needs this bulb to work for alternator to charge. Then if ok you might need to replace alt regulator or brushes, can do with engine in just about! Hope it works Ben
The Haynes pictures you show are for a dynamo, I'm assuming you have an alternator?? A temporary check would be to - 1. Place a voltmeter across the battery and note the voltage 2. Run a wire from the alternator large terminal straight to the battery +ve terminal- EXTREME CAUTION NEEDED! 3. Run the engine - does the voltage go up to 13 or more? If so, you've a wiring problem which your temporary wire has fixed 4. Drive belt at the correct tension?
If you disconnect the battery to avoid expensive flashbangs , loosen the alternator clamp strap and slide it towards the fan housing there will be three screws holding in the regulator and brush assembly which lifts out . Quite likely the brushes are worn down.
Sorry missed the bit about the bulb on the dash being dim..... just make sure its not piggybacked to the oil bulb as I have seen in the past!
All, thanks for your reply's. thanks for pointing out that I was looking at a dynamo not an alternator. I have attached a few pictures as you can see my battery light is very faint compared to my oil light. Oil light goes out as soon as engine starts battery light stays on. If I rev engine turn on lights etc. battery light stays the same does not flicker or turn off. 1. Place a voltmeter across the battery and note the voltage 12.8v 2. Run a wire from the alternator large terminal straight to the battery +ve terminal- EXTREME CAUTION NEEDED! red wire on alternator to red wire on battery? 3. Run the engine - does the voltage go up to 13 or more? If so, you've a wiring problem which your temporary wire has fixed still 12.8v 4. Drive belt at the correct tension? yes about 1cm of slack are there any other tests I can do? replacing the alternator looks like quite a big fiddly job. Thanks
Try cleaning the connection on the starter solenoid under the van. Mine was pretty cruddy. Main cables from battery and Dynamo meet at this point.
Either your battery's had it (which I suspect it has), or most likely the regulator on the alternator. Give the battery a good charge and measure the terminal voltage - should be about 12.7V, although this doesn't guarantee it'll hold charge. Give the rather dodgy-looking main terminal on your alternator a good clean up (disconnect batt -ve first). Take the black connector off the alt charge light output (might be worth tracing where it goes). Reconnect everything, and start the engine. Voltage between the main alt output and earth should be 13.5 - 14V. Check the same on the battery +ve. If it's not, likely the regulator's had it. Good news is that it appears to be an internal type, which are easy to change. TBH, I'd get a new battery as well. They're not that expensive. HTH.
Assuming your temporary wire was properly connected, it seems like you need to replace the regulator. Only takes a few minutes, about £30 - £40.
Thanks for your reply's some good info. As a new bay owner I am slowly starting to learn my way around the engine. I may well be wrong but I think the metal contacts (brushes?) have worn. Looks like I can by a replacement pair on eBay for few pounds. This way I keep my original Bosch parts that hopefully will be good for another 100k. If that don't work then I will buy a complete new alternator and try replacing the regulator first then if that don't work replace the whole unit. I will update and let you know how I get on.
All, Thanks for your replys. I replaced the brushes I could get the battery light to flicker at high revs but that was all. Put a new regulator on one small blip of the throttle on the battery light goes out and says out. Multimeter confirms battery getting 14.2volts. Problem solved thanks for all your replys. When I started the engine a had a small fuel leak. looks like the pipe to the top of the carb was leaking very slights. Approx one drop every 20 seconds. I have started her up a few times since and no fuel leak whatever. Left her running for a good 10 mins this morning and no leak. Anyone got any ideas? I will replace fuel lines before driving. Pete
Any fuel leak is not good. May be the brass pipe into the carb coming loose. Give it a good tug. If it's loose, epoxy it back in.
