Date:         Thu, 28 Jun 2001 23:39:40 -0600
Reply-To:     Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Subject:      Success + Timing question.
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

First my success.

I have been battling an erratic idle (84 Westy) for some time now.  It
would surge on and off almost as if the engine was firing for 10 seconds
and then just stopped firing for about 2 seconds.  Recently this started
happening driving down the road (the van would cut out for a couple
seconds and the start back up).

I tried tons of stuff including:
- looking for vacuum leaks,
- cleaning throttle
- cleaning grounds
- new cap and roter
- new air filter
- new vacuum lines all over
- plugged in a new computer

I finally (at someone's suggestion) swapped a different distributor and
the erratic idle is gone!  I figure it was a bad hall sender (is this the
part in the distributor?).

Now my timing questions.

First, my grooves in my pully are not the same as the pictures in
bentley.  There are two grooves in the pully, a V notch closer to the
engine (timing mark) and a U notch closer to the rear bumper (TDC
mark).  Bentley shows the V to the right of the U, but mine is to the
left.  What gives?

Since the confusing on grooves, I decided to pretend the V notch was where
it was pictured in bentley.  Setting the timing so that the imaginary V
was lined up with middle of the engine was ok, but the van ran even better
when the V notch was much further to the left then then middle of the
engine.  I'm not too sure how to measure this.

So, my questions regarding timing are:

1- As I turn the distributor and watch both notches move to the right,
does this mean the timing is now firing earlier or later.  I am thinking
it means it is firing earlier (ie BTDC).

2- How can I measure exactly how many degrees I have set the timing.  I do
have a timing light with a dial on it.  I imagine moving the dial until
the notches are lined up with the middle of the engine.  When I did this
today, I got the reading of between 5-10 degrees.  The engine seemed to
idle best when set at about 20 degrees, but this seems like too much so it
is now at what I guess to be 5 BTDC.
Am I measureing correctly?

Thanks in advance for any ideas/insights/hints or anything.

Blake
84 Westy
SLC UT