Date:         Sat, 25 May 2002 04:00:47 +0000
Reply-To:     Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Loss of Power, Backfire
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Had an interesting day.  I was headed out for a weekend of camping, and
about 30 miles out of town, my '87 Westy sort of bucked and lost power, then
kept running.  Another few minutes, it did the same thing, and sounded like
it backfired.

Fortunately I was coming up on a rest stop, so I pulled in and let it idle.
It ran OK, but when I put it in gear and pulled ahead to get to a better
parking spot, it backfired and died.

I have a digitool, and didn't see any odd readings.

A couple of months ago I had a problem with the van loosing power something
like this, but when you re-started, it would run OK for a couple of minutes.
  I added an additional ground wire to the ECUs O2 sensor line, based on
another list member's suggestion, and that seemed to solve the problem for
several 50 mile trips.

So, I wondered if I could get by with disconnecting the O2 sensor.  After I
did, it started and idled OK, but when I started to pull back out onto the
highway, it died completely, and had to be pushed back to a parking spot.
It wouldn't re-start and run.

After mulling things over for a few minutes, I re-started, and it idled
fine.

I pulled the fuel filter, and blew through it - no problem.  I re-installed,
and it started and idled OK.

I have a spare ECU, the TA unit that came with it, so I pulled the 2 year
old Bosch ECU and replaced it with the TA.  Again, it started and ran OK.

After running around the parking lot, I drove home.

Gas is Chevron, from a local, fairly busy station.  The digitool readings
for Temp 2 and AFM were pretty normal.  I left the O2 sensor disconnected on
the way home.

The inside of the tailpipe is pretty black.  I have been getting 16-18 mpg
on the highway.

Tomorrow I should pull the plugs and see what they look like, then put the
Bosch ECU in and go for a drive.  I really don't want to keep the TA in, as
it seems to have an intermittant loss of power problem, possibly due to a
bad solder joint.

Any suggestions for other things I could look for?



Mike Finkbiner
'87 Westy
Moscow, ID

mike_l_f@hotmail.com


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