VWNUT HAWK,
Check the voltage drop between the output of the alternator and the battery.
I made a set of six foot test leads for my voltmeter (12 ' reach). With all
the electrical consumers on I was dropping about .8 volts on the positive
side and .6 volts on the negative! I clean the connections and tripled the
size of the conductor between the alternator and the starter. This is a know
weak link VW fixed in the later years. I was losing half a volt between the
body of the alternator and the engine chassis, which was hard to believe.
Went from 11.9 to 13.6 volts.
Ken Lewis
http://neksiwel.20m.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "VWNut Hawk" <vwnut@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 4:00 PM
Subject: [VANAGON] Enough volts - alternator

My alternator is running 13.84Volts tops when cold at the battery.
After things are warm it drops to 13.76 Volts.
When I run the air conditioning it's 13.4 Volts.

It does eventually drain the battery.  I did find that the brass collar that
goes
on the solinoid had a bad connection.  After replacing that solder joint I
am
hoping things will get better.

Is there a source for replacement regulators?

The bus is a 1984 1.9 automatic.