Trailmix Beetle

[trailmix]

Anyone have tips they could share on how to get this brush spring back on its little hanger? I'm not having any luck. I might have to remove the generator.

[Dual Port]

Upper or lower? I use a "hook pick" with a 90* on the end to hook the spring and pull it over the brush. Upper shouldn't be too bad, lower will require a mirror, flashlite and patience if you don't loosen/turn the gen. The lower backing plate screws are not fun, I'd try it with the gen mounted for a while.

Good Luck!

[trailmix]

Got everything back together and found that the voltage regulator was going in and out. Then on a test drive, and the whole car just quit. No power anywhere. The battery seems to have power but no power to anything. I am hoping a regulator will tix it. Fingers crossed while waiting for the tow truck.

[Dual Port]

Don't forget you may have a blown Maxifuse..........

[trailmix]

Thanks Bruce for the calls and advice. The power of this forum and the people involved are awesome!!! I got it home late last night and found my test light to trace the power loss. There is power going into the voltage regulator but nothing coming out. The Maxifuse tested OK. After testing for a while, I turned the key and got power......then waited a minute and got nothing. There is something going on with the regulator or wiring for sure.
"Rusty" was running and driving so good. Even though that little car has its issues, it still brings a huge smile to my face when I get behind the wheel. I have learned and will continue to learn how to figure out what's wrong with the car through patience and hard lessons. (And of course the valuable help from the VW community).

[Mike Kever Kombi]

There is a lot of paint around that VR. Sand yourself a nice spot down to bare metal at the screw to make sure you achieve a good ground. Also double check your transmission ground, I know Bruce says it's good, but it only takes a minute to verify.

After that check the ignition switch. They do have a tendency to go bad if the car has sat for any length of time.

[Dual Port]

After speaking with Keith again, his luck turned from bad to worse last night and he ended up having AAA tow the car. After getting it home and getting his test light out he found he had power at the fat spade going into the regulator from the MaxiFuse but not at the fat spade coming out of the reg which feeds power to the dash. IIRC, these spades are riveted together on the bottom of the reg and to lose connection there is an unusual problem. I have plenty of spare regs and will provide him one today, I feel badly that he had so much grief over what seems like a fairly minor problem, but if it causes grief it's not a minor problem.

Hopefully his luck gets better.......

[Dual Port]

There is a lot of paint around that VR. Sand yourself a nice spot down to bare metal at the screw to make sure you achieve a good ground. Also double check your transmission ground, I know Bruce says it's good, but it only takes a minute to verify.

After that check the ignition switch. They do have a tendency to go bad if the car has sat for any length of time.

If you look close I ground the paint from the mounting spots where the reg bolts, and ground the bottoms of the "feet" on the reg to ensure a good ground.

When his problem occurs he loses power to the dash including the headlights, so it's not the ig switch, but on a side note his ig sw IS bad as the Bakelite portion of it is loose in the metal housing and can be visibly wiggled from under the hood. I pointed this out to him a while back. (Reminder- replace switch; or remove, clean, clamp, and Epoxy!)

As for the tranny ground strap, I removed it, bead blasted the strap, and used a wire wheel in a drill to clean both mounting points. The chance there is a connection problem there is quite remote. For some reason I didn't take any pics of it after it was cleaned....

[toolbox]

[q
When his problem occurs he loses power to the dash including the headlights, so it's not the ig switch, but on a side note his ig sw IS bad as the Bakelite portion of it is loose in the metal housing and can be visibly wiggled from under the hood. I pointed this out to him a while back. (Reminder- replace switch; or remove, clean, clamp, and Epoxy!)

I have replaced the electrical portions of switches in the past. It is pretty simple to undo the staked portion of the housing and remove the electrical portion, install a new one and re-stake. I did this on my truck years ago when the start position went bad.

Good luck

[trailmix]

Bruce had another regulator at the shop so I could bolt it up and see if that was the problem. Everything is working great now. I did some checking with the volt meter and all the numbers are exactly where they should be. Still a bit confused as to why this all happened but my theory is a bad ground on the regulator. When I was trying to trace the problem, the regulator would move just a little on the mounting screws. Almost like the screws had backed out just a tiny bit. This might have caused a bad ground. Still cannot figure out why I couldn't get any power to the maxi fuse when I was tracing the power.....
So all is good now. The generator light is out and everything tests good. On to the next chapter.

Another lesson learned. If EVERYTHING is not right, either don't drive the car further than the end of your street or be don't be surprised if something more goes wrong and if not prepared, you will be waiting for a tow.

A couple of items that are now in my bag that stay in the car.
* test light
* jumper wire to bypass the fuse for testing
* multi meter
* various wire with alligator clips
* granola bar for those times waiting on the tow truck

Thanks again Bruce for the helping hand!