Jetta diesel electrical problem

[ALehman]

I had the alternator off today to change belts on my 86 TD and arced the power wire to the alternator. When I started up I had no tach or digital clock and the dash lights only work when the car is off. Everything worked just fine before that. Help anyone

 

[rbattelle]

Uh-oh. I heard someone say once, "no one at Volkswagen has any idea where the electrons go after they leave the battery".

My guess is you fried some kind of computer in that thing. How many computers can an '86 have?

Does the car still run okay? Do you have a factory wiring diagram?

Could it be a blown voltage regulator? Check charging voltage.

Ryan

 

[ALehman]

So far I have checked voltage at the alternator. Thats where the tach signal is and its normal. I know there is an instrument voltage regulator behind the dash but haven't checked it yet. Any other ideas

 

[ALehman]

Found to be a tear in the printed circuit board on the cluster. Don't ask me how but thats the problem. But where can i get one other than the dealer.

 

[rbattelle]

Can you jumper across the tear with a piece of wire and some careful soldering?

Ryan

 

[testraub]

Any juckyard that has a VW should do the trick Burned out several in a old Rabbit and always hit the junkyard for a replacement they always seemed to work just fine. Never did like the design tho.