Re: misc to robert & list

["Dan Bocek" <dan@di.com>]

Robert -

> I'm still tracking one misbehavior -- at idle with heavy electrical load
> (high beams, A/C max (fresh air fan and radiator fan both on max draw),
> rear window defogger on: the system voltage wavers at around +12 (with
> minimal load it holds pretty solid at +13.7V to +13.9V measured at the
> battery), then suddenly collapses to +10-+11 at the same time as the en-
> gine rpm suddenly drops to a rough inconsistent 500rpm (from 800-850)
> shortly before dying altogether. It looks like the voltage regulator is
> deciding to just switch off altogether, triggering the engine computer...

	Hmmm, I had a similar problem in my Ur, but in my case, the voltage
was RISING, not falling.  I was on a long haul driving from San Francisco
to Santa Barbara at night, and all of a sudden I noticed my lights got very
bright.  A quick look at the Ammeter - it was PEGGED!!!. "What the hell's
happening here???"  Then, just as soon as it started, the lights went
back to their normal brightness, and all was well.
	About an hour later, just when I was thinking that it was all a
figment of my imagination, the lights all of a sudden got really bright 
again.  A-hah!  This time I was gonna be clever!  For some reason I decided
to see what would happen if I pushed in the clutch and revved the engine
to 5 grand or so.....POOF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was instantly plungend into 
complete darkness as every single bulb filament in that car vaporized 
simultaneously.
	Luckily, I didn't have my fogs on at the time, so as I fumbled
for the switch, I pondered what had just happened, and qucikly found a hotel 
to stay at for the night.  It turned out that the voltage regulator (which
pushes into contacts on the back of the alternator) was making
intermittant/dubious contact with the contacts on the alternator - so
every now and then, the regulator would have no control of the output
voltage, in which case the output voltage was merely a function of
alternator RPM.  Of course, in the process of finding all this out, I
took the dammned alternator out of the car to have it bench tested, so 
I verify from close personal experience that the thing is frigging near 
impossible to take out!  When am I gonna run outa problems to fix on that
car?  I keep telling myself that once everything that can break breaks, and
I fix each thing myself, that someday I'll have a RELIABLE, awesome car
on my hands.  So far, I see no end in sight....SIGH :-(
-- 
                                                   
                                                    Dan Bocek
                                                    dan@di.com