Mark, thanks. Big help!

John

On 9/23/2013 11:14 AM, mark drillock wrote:
> A failure in that alternator red wire is a common cause of this type of
> problem. It can even cause the cycling of the fuel pump symptom. Other
> related wiring failures can do it too. Here is a link to a way to figure
> out if that is the problem without spending a lot of money and time
> replacing major parts that don't help.
>
> http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=349429&highlight=
>
> Mark
>
> Richard Koller wrote:
>> I had these symptoms in my '91 and it turned out to be the big red
>> wire on
>> the back of the alternator ( coming from the battery I believe ) this
>> wire
>> was partially broken. It was not completely broken and you could not
>> see the
>> break while it was connected. So it made contact most of the time and the
>> van would run. This event happened suddenly on a long road trip and It
>> got
>> worse and worse during the ride home. Finally the van just stopped
>> about 20
>> miles from home. I had it towed.  I started examining all my
>> connections and
>> when I unbolted this big wire from the alternator I could see it was
>> severely frayed. By the way the tach would abruptly drop to zero every
>> time
>> the van conked out.
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> Rick Koller
>>
> .
>