Slow starting 6v

LOL ! All is forgiven.

No, I would not measure Amps. He will (hopefully) have a fixed load (the solenoid) on the circuit. The voltmeter will find where the voltage is being "lost".

Speedy Jim

Yes Jim, glad you understand, I was looking for voltage loss and of course under load. Thanks for the tip if the starter engages. I will start with the procedures tonight.

-tom

Spelling won't help you there buddy ;)

Jan

Yes,load as in MilliAmpere..? Must admit my Engineering degree is rusty but... Me thinks this is one of those situations you could use either method..? Or?

J.

Here is the results of the voltage check: Check at the battery is 6.23v Check at the ignition 6.21, with key on 5.84 Check at the solenoid starter 6.07, with key on 5.52

Voltage drop, sounds like I need a new solenoid? Still learning as I go.

Anyone find 6v VW parts are hard to come by these days? As I am thinking of converting to 12v. Learning as I go,

-tom

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 06:19:16 -0800, "Tom Nakashima" scribbled this interesting note:

Lots of reading here. You may want to go refill your beverage of choice. This will take a while.

Hope this helps.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Thanks John, a lot of good reading there, most of it I read on my lunch break. So bottom line is, there are many who disagree with the conversion to the

12v system. And it looks as though many 6v owners have solved their problem with wiring fixes, soldering, connectors, being VW wiring wasn't the best and corroded easily. I'll have to admit tracking down an intermittent wiring problem can get frustrating and you need two dedicated people to figure this out. It's wearing on me.

-tom

On Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:45:45 -0800, "Tom Nakashima" scribbled this interesting note:

I speak from experience here. Our 1959 Beetle is still six volt. I replaced the battery, installed a new transmission to body ground strap, and started fixing bad ground wires and splicing in new leads where necessary. Now all the lights can be clearly seen, the horn works well, and it starts well every time. There is no need to track down problems, since almost at every turn you will encounter a voltage drop. Start at one end of the system (say, the battery) and go to the other end (again at the battery!:~) and fix whatever problems you may find. Run new grounds if you have to. In our case, I didn't have to go as far as I thought I might because our car had been well cared for over its lifetime and was stored indoors. Not as many problems developed so there was less to fix right away (although I still need to clean up a few more terminals and do a little more splicing!:~)

Good luck.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

Thanks again John for the encouragement!

-tom

I have a trick that's worked for me in the past on other cars to determine which connection to the starter is bad. You basically use your booster cables and bridge both connections: Using one leg of the booster cable (red or black), tie one end to the battery +, the other side to the hot starter wire. If it starts, your positive connection to the starter is bad. If not, (after untieing both ends both ends), put one side on the negative of the battery and the other on the starter body. If it starts, your ground is bad.

Of course, be careful touching things because you don't want to do involuntary welding :)

Remco