Date:         Sat, 18 May 2002 19:43:10 EDT
Reply-To:     Gtciolfi@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         George Ciolfi <Gtciolfi@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Rough Idle on 84 Vanagon 1.9L - Help
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi,

     New to this list.. Hope someone can help.  I've got a rough Idle problem
with my 84 vanagon.  I have replaced/checked/swapped out with spare parts the
following items with no change in idle quality:  Rebuilt injectors, new fuel
pressure regulator, new air flow meter, new coil, control unit (swapped with
junk yard one - no change).  I checked all of the voltages/resistances at the
connector for the ECU they look ok.  I sanded all of the eyelets for the
grounds in the wiring harness.  I checked for vacuum leaks by wiggling hoses
and also spraying ether at all aconnections to look for increase in idle.

I have not set the co after replacing the engine (from Boston Engine)  but a
slow turning of the air adjustment screw all throught the range doesn't
smooth it out.

Here's the part I'm wondering about - When I try to time the thing, the
timing bounces constantly varying around an average of 5 deg, and sometimes
jumps a bit more.  I did have the idle stabilizer plugs connected together.
I am wondering if it could be the hall control unit.  My understanding is
that this and the idle stabilizer are the only things that set timing, based
on engine speed as measured by the hall effect wheel in the distributor (well
there is also vac advance and retard, now that I think about it I should
check stability of timing with these disconected).

Any thoughts?  What should I do to diagnose this stuff.

Any help is much appreciated.

George