Chase91 Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 (edited) got an 89 tsi that stopped charging about a week ago. Pulled the alternator and had it tested, it was good battery was tested and is good no blown fuses any where and all the connections I've been able to get to are good... any ideas what could be behind the problem?? had the car for about 4 months and it always stayed right around 13 volts now nothing Edited March 12, 2009 by Chase91 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 http://www.billsautofab.com/images/charge.JPG this is a real simple diagram of the 89 Straion system, but basically you have an alternater tha needs and 'excited field' which means a small voltage is introduced to the alternator brushes through the ignition switch in 'start' position, when the key is in start position, voltage passes through a resistor to drop voltage and then through a diode to pass in only one direction. this is the yellow/white wire on the other side of the brushes is the white/green wire which should supply the alternator with constant battery voltage at all times after the brushes are producing voltage it should be returned to the battery at 14.5 volts in the heavy gauge white wire so put a voltage meter at the white/yellow wire and put the key in the start position ( engine cranking) you should see about 6 v, that tells you the signal is getting to the alternator from the key and the resistor is good, but it doesnt tell you the diode is good put your volt meter in the white/green wire and make sure you have power with the key 'on' after the engine is running test to see if you have 14.5v flowing to your battery if all that works and you know your alternator is good,thenwe get into voltage drop testing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAinsworth Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 If you look at Bill's diagram, there is a fusible link coming off the positive post on the battery. It goes to the alternator. With the alternator checking out, I would suspect that black fusible link. Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 If you look at Bill's diagram, there is a fusible link coming off the positive post on the battery. It goes to the alternator. With the alternator checking out, I would suspect that black fusible link. Jimmy x2 that culprit is what caused yoshi's conquest to die en route this past weekend with a dead battery and a bad alternator it seemed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAinsworth Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 x2 that culprit is what caused yoshi's conquest to die en route this past weekend with a dead battery and a bad alternator it seemed. Told you so Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Told you so Jimmy Crappy part is, even if we did isolate it to that, well, we didn't have any spares Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 http://www.billsautofab.com/images/charge1.JPG lets say for example a lot of guys have had trouble with the fuse holder, electricity does lots of things, produce heat, light, motion, but what you dont recognize is that electricity can be doing all those things and you cant see it, so you gotta measure it. well first you gotta pick your tools, in this case I want to use a DIGITAL DVOM. well the problem with the digital OHM METER is that it will lie to you >;o). its so sensitive it will give false readings and show a curcuit as good, when in fact there is resistance in the curcuit and its producing invisible heat. So I am using a DIGITAL VOLT METER and by doing this I will use its sensitivity agaisnt itself >;o) by doing a voltage drop test If I place the leads across a given electrical path ( including wires, connectors, and powered components )and power it up, the VOLTAGE METER will measure how much voltage is required to travel the path. in this example the closer to '0.0'v the better, if in fact voltage is measured in this test, it means that given voltage is how much voltage required to travel the path BEFORE ANY WORK GETS DONE, so that amount of voltage must be subtracted from the available voltage to be used to drive the given component at the end of the electrical path this test can be done on any curcuit to find trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase91 Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 voltage seems to be good on everything but the battery light doesnt come on at all.. will that bulb being blown stop the car from charging? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 no,it wont stop the charge, the way the charge light stays off is that it has voltage on both sides of the bulb, as soon as one side or the other of the bulb senses ground, it will turn on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase91 Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) ok how much voltage should be at the small white/green wire while the car is running it had 7 volts Edited March 18, 2009 by Chase91 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 (edited) http://www.billsautofab.com/images/charge2.JPG no , that should be 12.v. look at the fuse the other guys told you about, it has resistance in the holder Edited March 18, 2009 by Bill Hincher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 ok how much voltage should be at the small white/green wire while the car is running it had 7 volts that should be 12.v its the fuse the other guy told you about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase91 Posted March 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 that should be 12.v its the fuse the other guy told you about where is the fuse located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase91 Posted March 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 can anyone tell me the rating on this fusible link and where it is located? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts