[Vwdiesel] Electrical problem

[Dave Cook]

I guess they worked long enough to drain the battery, but it would be a good idea to check and make sure none of the plugs burned out during that time.

Dave Cook


--- On Fri, 4/3/09, Erik Lane <eriklane at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Erik Lane <eriklane at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Electrical problem
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Date: Friday, April 3, 2009, 4:01 AM
> Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
> Fortunately (or unfortunately??) I
> managed to find the problem before I came back to the
> computer to see
> everyone's input. I haven't had many alternators apart, but
> it surprised me
> to hear you say that an alternator can't have bad sections
> in the way that I
> was thinking, Loren. Although if it has just constant rings
> like that I
> guess it makes sense. I was thinking of it more like a DC
> motor like a
> starter I guess.
> 
> It turns out it was the glow plugs. The contacts in the
> relay were halfway
> fused shut. I say halfway because I was able to force them
> apart and they
> now have a slight gap, but the thing is definitely not
> trustworthy! The one
> contact can wiggle around some in the housing, and neither
> contact looks too
> good - one is pitted and the other has extra material on
> it. At one point
> water got in there and caused some corrosion around the
> microchip as well,
> but it still worked good with that.
> 
> So I pulled the brand new relay out of the car I'm getting
> ready for the
> road and put it in my driver so all is good again.
> 
> That's quite a relief!!
> 
> Thanks!
> Erik
> 
> Good call, Terry! Although I have a load tester I can
> borrow from my
> neighbor, so I could have done that myself. But I didn't
> have the battery
> charged enough yet. (I still wouldn't do it now, but the
> car will start
> solidly so I have it out of the shop and ready to drive to
> school tomorrow.)
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