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Date:         Sun, 16 Sep 2001 23:46:46 EDT
Reply-To:     WarmerWagen@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Keezer <WarmerWagen@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: seizure
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Seth, Since you were in the wiring, a ground could have been missed, and, the ECU will look for a ground path in the circuitry if it doesn't have one, fries itself. The injectors turned full on. I am inclined to think it's the ECU/wiring, not the valves. the valves would have meant little or no power if not done right.

The ECU controls the ground for the fuel pump relay-and I think this is where your problem lies. It is a problem I seen before on other Volkswagens. It happened to me the first time I installed a I-4 Digifant ll Jetta engine in my vanagon. I assigned the wire from the ecu that goes to 85 of the fuel pump relay to 15 on the coil. then I heard a sound that sounded like the faucet was turned on. The as for something bent inside-I am not sure.

somebody else I know had all the cylinders fill with gas on his Jetta-he pulled all the plugs, cranked the engine, sprayed gas everywhere including the ceiling, all over an overhead electrical outlet we had the trouble light plugged into-and the dumb guy had a knee-jerk reaction and pulled the plug out and i ran out the door-the whole place could have gone up from the sparks-be caefull-high compression blows the gas out a long way, and any towels need to be weighted down.

Robert 1982 Westfalia

<<hey list--

on the verge of selling my chronically ill Westy for scrap...just installed a new (new used) wiring harness in hopes of curing a mysterious fuel consumption problem...(also having just installed two new heads immediately before a 1200 mile drive completed a mere week ago; the trip completed without any problems aside from the standard 9mpg)...after installing the new harness, took the van for a test drive...ran perfectly, best ever while in my possession...for about 10 miles, that is...after some time--cruising around 45 mph--the van began to stutter then evened out again...i ignored it...then more stuttering followed my complete shut down of engine while running...pushed the thing to the side of the road where i found four leaking push rod tubes and an exhaust system full of fuel...(cannot express how fortunate i feel for the thing not to have exploded)...pulled the plugs and gas poured out of #3...#4 wet, #1 and #2 fine...the van will not start although it will turn over very slowly with ignition and with great difficulty by hand...this is the problem...

as for the diagnosis, my sense is that i suffered from serious hydrolock--one or two cylinders filled with fuel, extremely high cylinder pressure forced a bent something internally, and now the thing more-or-less seized...does this sound reasonable and, if so, why would this happen...valves stuck open?...bad injector?...a combination of both???...at the time of the breakdown, there was no noticable "bang" or cloud of smoke except slight whisps from fuel drips hitting the exhaust pipe...

am confused, irritated, frustrated and so on...any ideas would be appreciated...

seth '84 westy>>


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