Date:         Tue, 3 Sep 2002 17:46:34 EDT
Reply-To:     Rogerspace2@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roger Reynolds <Rogerspace2@AOL.COM>
Subject:      melted oxygen sensor wires and no start fun
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Hi all,

I'm having some difficulty with my '89 westy in the Charlottesville, VA area
and am looking for some advice.

This afternoon, when I was was just idleing after having driven about 3
miles, the engine stalled.  When I tried to restart, it wouldn't and there
was a small bit of smoke from the engine compartment.  I pushed it over to
the side of the driveway, and with the key out of the ignition, the engine
started to turn over and kept cranking untill I was able to unhook the
battery ground strap.  In the engine compartment the two wires for the oxygen
sensor that share a common connector have melted their insulation off.  I did
replace the oxygen sensor about two weeks ago and have driven almost every
day since then (up to 3 hours a couple of days) with no problems.  What
should I look into first?  And, of course, the old oxygen sensor went into
the trash a couple of days ago when I was sure everything was ok with the new
one :).

TIA,
Roger