Advice please. I am at work and don't have my manuals. I am having to wing it. I do have a few tools and my Ohm/Volt meter. I will have to drive home this evening for about a 55 minute drive.... on battery power maybe :( My daily driver bug is not feeling well!
Driving to work this morning (lights and radio on) I looked down after the first 40 minutes or so and saw the generator light on. I also started to smell that nice electrical insulation smell. (something overheating)
I pulled off the road and noted that everything was connected as it should be. The engine compartment wasn't particularly smelly. Note that I have the voltage regulator under the back seat.
THIS PAST WEEK I'd had to replace the generator (first tried just the regulator and am still using the NEW regulator) because the D+ wire had broken off right at the generator and had shorted against the generator frame. I don't know if exactly what that did, but my generator would no longer charge. I tried repolarizing the generator and, at higher revs, it did tend to cause the generator light to dim and flicker. I had come across an older, used generator so I cleaned it up, polarized it, and it worked great... at least in the driveway and for the first 40 minutes driving in to work.
I wondered whether a short in the electrical system could have caused the electrical system to overload (but I hadn't heard the characteristic whine that I've heard when there is a huge current draw like from a nearly dead battery) so RIGHT BEFORE IT STARTED TO RAIN REALLY HARD, I checked a few wires:
1) I disconnected the D+ and Df from the generator and checked for continuity to ground (looking for shorts). They were fine. 2) I pulled the main power cables one way or the other through the gromets around the engine and the back seat and felt no worn spots. 3) I disconnected the wire from the regulator to the headlight switch (main hot wire to the front) and pulled off the other end too. It showed no continuity to the frame. 4) I disconnected the two radio power leads, pulled all the fuses, and made sure the key was OFF. I then put the volt meter between the negative battery terminal and the ground cable and I got 13Vdc. There was not enough pf a current draw to cause a spark when I tapped the ground cable to the battery, but there seems to be a current leak SOMEWHERE. 5) I found one wire connector that MAY have been a hot wire that I'd taped off a year ago but was now exposed. (was a pigtail from another cable) Rather than determine whether it was a hot wire and whether it was somehow shorting in my trunk to some painted surface, I cut it off and taped the remaining stub. Doing this still didn't change anything.6) The battery was warm. I had probably only driven less than a minute with the generator light on because I check my gauges, mirrors, etc quite frequently. The light is a nice bright red (new colored plastic in the speedo for the generator and oil lights).
With BOTH radio power leads disconnected, all fuses out, WHAT WOULD DRAW CURRENT on a '63/65 Beetle? OK, so searching for a short might be a red herring. The generator hadn't whined so there wasn't a huge draw on it. I had inspected the New regulator when I bought it (before installing it). "New" style. Crappy workmanship. The green wire looked to be streched too tightly around a semi-sharp corner so I unkinked it slightly to pull it away from the sharp edge and its insulation was cut into and, upon straightening slightly, I saw bright copper. I treated it with "liquid electrical tape" (which I've used on other kinds of wires) and so it should be OK. I left it bent so that it wouldn't rub against the sharp edge. There were two other wires on the regulator that I couldn't get enough slack to treat accordingly.
Thing is, I wonder what the odds are for this old Bosch generator to also have gone bad all by itself?
ANY practical suggestions would be appreciated. My battery is a new, GOOD Interstate battery, so I hope I will make it home without killing it... but would prefer to fix the problem first.
I will leave work early (before rush hour) and pray that it isn't raining TOO HARD so I can avoid using the wipers. Maybe if I stop part way to let the battery "catch up" that would help?
KWW