It's possible they are blowing just after starting when the altenator is
charging the most and the voltage regulator is dropping the most voltage. A
bad  connection at or near the battery is a good place to start. Also there
was a recent post about loosing altenator grounds at the mount. I would
check the whole battery/charging/starting  system for resistance. There are
a lot of areas for bad connections in our older vans.

Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Kirsch" <Vanagony@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2001 9:21 AM
Subject: Blowing Voltage Regulator For Guages

> A friend's 83 water cooled Vanagon has trouble with the dash guage voltage
> regulator.  Intermittantly when starting, the regulator blows and guages
are
> thus dead.  Grounds have been checked and cleaned.  An additional ground
has
> been installed from the starter to the body.  He is considering putting a
> ground wire from the starter to the battery.  Any ideas?
>
>
> Paul Kirsch
>