Date:         Sun, 15 Oct 2000 09:53:55 -0500
Reply-To:     Darrell Boehler <midwesty@MIDWEST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Darrell Boehler <midwesty@MIDWEST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Ignition problem?
Comments: To: Frank Assinck <fcajax@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Hi Frank,
    Good that you notice the tach (rpm gauge)  problem.  It is an excellent  indication of what is happening at the coil primary circuit.   Check for loose connections on the coil and the grounds on the van body near the coil and left head.  The digifant system  (86 - 91)  use the ground on the fuel injection cable near the ecu (brown wire going to body under the rear seat) for the ground for the coil driver transistor which is inside the ecu . So check the ground under the rear seat.  
    Your problem could well be the ecu (black  box under the rear seat)  tap on it will  often make the problem come and go. The digifant ecu is very prone to bad solder connections, especially in hot climates.  
Midwesty

   .       
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Frank Assinck 
  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
  Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2000 10:24 PM
  Subject: Ignition problem?


  L.S.

  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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