Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2000 12:27:09 -0500
Reply-To: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marshall Ruskin <mruskin@PANGEA.CA>
Subject: Re: Ignition problem?
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
The problem that you are experiencing is called "bucking" and it is extremely common with vanagons.
There are at least 3 solutions to it. (There are many many discussions with term "bucking" in the archives)
1. Most expensive solution: replace air flow meter
2. Next most expensive solution: purchase special harness from dealer, about $100 - $150
3. cheaper sol'n: Wire up a small capacitor to the AFM, some trouble to do - cost about $3.00
4. Even cheaper sol'n: Open lid of AFM, and clean with spray ELECTRONIC cleaner, move wiper to and fro. Then close up lid. Works very well. Cost $3.00 or less.
5. Cheapest sol'n: Open afm, move the potentiometer's wiper contact surface so the wiper contacts a fresh surface. Some serious skill required. Cost $0.00.
For detailed information on this: use the archives via email (by far the best way to use them) and search on "bucking" over the last year or so.
YMMV
Marshall Ruskin
84 Westy
Our Vanagon GL Camper from 86 is giving us some serious troubles lately. I'm not very technical and English is not my motherlanguage so I will try to explain what's happening. When the Van is running, the rpm gauge is flipping up and down while the car starts to shock. So it looks to me that the ignition is cut off randomly. This problem comes and goes but when it acts up its no fun to drive in the car. The problem does not act up when the car is idle-ing, which makes it very hard to track down the problem in a garage. It's not the coil and not the distributor because they were exchanged and the problem still acted up. The mechanics couldn't find anything and only cleaned the whole circuit/connections. Since then the Van ran fine for a 1000 mile but today the problem was back. From two different sides I heard that this problem has to do with the grounding of the electrical circuit and that other electrical device ( like power windows or maybe the fridge) can disturb the ignition circuit.
Is there somebody who recognizes this problem and has an idea about the cause and how to solve it?? We really like our Van and we want to keep it on the road for another 1.5 year to see something of the States, but at the moment we feel like riding a time bomb.
With kind regards,
Frank Assinck
Jacksonville, Florida
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