Phred-

From the evidence, sounds like one of two things: Alternator is dying, or
your voltage reg-u-mo-lator ain't. I'd lean toward the alternator.

The Volt regulator *may* have been whack for a while, and fried the battery
with 18+ volts, and now the battery is now useless as a vessel for
electrons.

Good luck, and as always, share what you find.

G. Matthew Bulley
Director
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree

-----Original Message-----
From:   Alan Bosch [SMTP:arbosch@RA.ROCKWELL.COM]
Sent:   Tuesday, November 16, 1999 11:07 AM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Electrical gremlins...

On a cold day last week, my '88 Wolfie was a little slow to crank when I
attempted to start it in morning.  Kinda like the symptons of a
not-fully-charged battery.  Saturday, I replaced the 20W-50 Castrol Synthec
oil
in the crankcase (and the filter) with Mobil1 10W-30, disconnected and
cleaned
the grounds that go from the head to the frame and the transmission to the
motor
mount (?), and disconnected the bettery and cleaned the posts.  All or part
of
this seemed to clear up the slow cranking.  Last night, I had the front and
rear
heater fans on (#2 position), headlights on, and the tape deck turning.
 Flicked
on the high beams and the tape deck stopped, cluncked a few times, then
resumed
playing "More Songs About Buildings and Food" by Talking Heads :o)

Anyway, this morning, jumped in to drive to work and got a slow crank
again.
Driving to work - headlights on, fans on, radio playing - the radio went
kaput
again when brakes were applied.

Anyone have any idea what I'm missing?  I have not put a VOM on the
alternator
or battery yet - just no time until the weekend.  Is there a few grounds
I've
missed?  Is an alternator replacement in the cards for the weekend?
 Voltage
regulator?  BTW, battery was new in May of this year.

Alan Bosch
& Phred ('88 Wolfsburg)
Rochester, NY