Some of you will recall that I was stranded in Toledo around Christmas time. Turned out that it was a voltage regulator (brushes shot & system not charging).

Today (45 days later), I developed the same symptoms as the battery light came on. Upon checking with a voltmeter, I noticed 12.8 with car off and 12.5 with it running!

I sprayed the contact points on the alternator to no avail. Next I took out the voltage regulator even though it was new. One of the brushes was barely showing while the other was long and new. I figured it got stuck in there but upon examination, it had worn down already.

I looked up into the alternator and noticed that the rearward track (that the brush rubs on) was not smooth like the forward one. It had a rut in it running longwards.

QUESTION: Am I right in assuming that the alternator needs rebuilding because of it chewing up the VR brush? Or can I just try the easy road again hoping to find a better alignment.

DISTURBING: Both instances seemed to have happend after a prolonged period at idle (30 minutes or so). That bothers me because one of the perks of a diesel is letting it run.....

Help??

Don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed