84 Vanagon electrical problems?

Question

My vanagon started acting up a few days ago:
Ist, the Temp gauge was giving a high reading without the engine being hot.
2nd, battery charging was very low
3rd, the fuel pump worked intermitently.
NOW:
the fuel and temperature gauges are dead
the battery won't charge at all (I have replaced the alternator)
the fuel pump doesn't work.

Any help finding what the problem may be will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Generally, a lot of seemingly unrelated problems starting at once usually points to a bad electrical ground connection somewhere. There can be dozens of grounding points in a car and you will have to look for something that all these components have in common. I recommend getting the Haynes service manual for this VW and studying the electrica section. You can get the Haynes manual from Amazon for $25 or so.

Answer 2

If you ran the battery down because the alternator was not working the first thing you need to do is replace the battery. The battery is what powers the fuel pump up to start so if their is not enough power in the battery the car is not going to start, so how do you know the gages do not work.
Once you have a new battery look at the grounds. The battery is under the seat in that car so look at the ground cable make sure it has a good contact point. Has anything been spilled in there that may have damaged the contact. Clean both ends of the ground cable. Next check grounds in the engine compartment. Again make sure they are clean and tight.
Last if you do, or already have done these, check the electrical part of the ignition switch. Do the head lights work when the car is running. Pull the turn signal switch back, which will flash the high beams, and it will by pass the ignition switch and turn the head lights on. I know that sounds crazy but I had this happen on my 87 and that how we found out it was the switch.

Answer 3

i believe most of gauges on old vw are vacuum driven. I would ck if all hoses to these gauges are in good condition first. For battery not charging, I would ck all connection from alternator to battery and double ck on battery ground wire and ck alternator belt tension. Get a multimeter and place in on the battery and get a reading while engine running. if lower than 13v then alternator problem. if higher than 13v then battery problem.

did you get a rebuilt alternator? if so, they can be bad too.