Alternators do require a blip of the throttle to get their "field" functioning. I had a similar problem where the alternator required a violent blip to get started - this was traced to a bad wire in the alternator circuit (IIRC it was at the alternator but it's been quite some time).
Try hooking up a volt meter to the system to figure out when the alternator is actually functioning. As for the fan run-on and the windows - those are both normal. --- Phillip Trickey <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm posting this for a friend of my fathers. I will pass along any > posted > suggestions. > The problem as described to me: > > "Car: 1992 Passat 16V 95K > > For 18 months it has had a strange electical problem. The local VW > dealer > has had the car for 2 long stretches with no success. > > Suppose the car to be started normally. After 15 miles or so, the > electrical system will begin to fail as the battery discharges and > shortly the car will stop. After waiting awhile it can be > restarted > if the battery and engine aren't too cold. Clearly the battery has > not been charged (net that is) since starting. > > Now suppose that the car be started and IMMEDIATELY the throttle > punched a couple of times, revving hard, to about 4000 or more. > Then > the problem described in the preceding paragraph does NOT occur. > The > battery charges normally and the car runs normally on the > alternator > as long as one likes. > > Attempted cures have included 3 different alternators, two from > VW and one non-Bosch equivalent. No change, same problem. The VW > dealer > has run a standard set of diagnostics on the electrical system. > Also, it > doesn't appear to be a belt problem. > > A minor oddity is that the battery charge light never seems to > come on. > > What seems to be happening is that something in the charging > circuit is > activated after starting ONLY when there is a big enough raw > voltage from > the alternator to trip or trigger that something. > > The only obvious electrical oddities are the electrical cooling fan > runs a > long time after shutting the car down, more than 10 minutes. And > only one > electrical window goes up at a time." ===== Matthew Yip http://www.geocities.com/mgyip/ '81 Rabbit diesel - '87 GTi 16v "General Li" - '88 M5 - '99 F350 psd __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
