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Date:         Sun, 5 Mar 2000 19:27:02 +0100
Reply-To:     Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@EURONET.NL>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robin Oomkes <robin.oomkes@EURONET.NL>
Subject:      84 NA Diesel - loss of 'performance'
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi list,

My '84 1.6 NA diesel Westy, which has just had a junkyard engine transplant, and a head gasket renewal, has the following problem:

Cold start - fine. Engine noisy, but that's normal. Accelerate through the gears - ok. At around 90 km/h (55 mph) in fourth, pedal to the metal, speed starts dropping down to 70 km/h (45 mph). It will maintain this speed with difficulty. Lots of smoke from exhaust.

Depress the clutch - engine stalls, but will restart on rough, low idle. Idle for a few minutes - get going again - accelerate through the gears - van will reach roughly 100 km/h (10% below normal top speed) before speed starts dropping again.

Note: this doesn't always happen. Occasionally, I can drive as fast as 105-110 km/h (to test, of course, not permanently) and it will sustain this. Without smoke.

Called mechanic who installed the engine - he advised to swap the fuel filter as this could be clogged. Although the old one was relatively new, I did this. No change.

Before going back to the mechanic, does anyone have ANY idea on how this can happen? If the engine were worn, or completely out of tune, it should never reach top speed. Shouldn't it?

Another note: both batteries (this Westy has factory aux battery) are pretty flat, as the van hasn't been driven for a while. Could the load on the alternator caused by these two half-charged batteries be so high that this would hamper performance of this (50hp only) engine to such an extent?

Hopeless in Holland, Robin 84 Westy D 90 Vanagon Atlantic TD


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