Date:         Fri, 24 Jan 2003 09:36:38 -0700
Reply-To:     Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike Blotz <Mike.Blotz@PEARLIZUMI.COM>
Subject:      2.1 getting it running good advise
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

hey gang

i'm having some trouble with my 87 2.1 syncro. may recall i bought the her
with bad heads, and have just completed gasket replacement with rebuilt
heads, lots of hoses, new rear heater core and all tune up related stuff.
I'm having troubles getting it to run right though. it ran good before with
bad gaskets--thats why i'm haveing issues with the way its running now.

I first started it up--sounded like hell--as i was expecting before the
lifters pumped up. I got it all filled up with coolant and bleed and took it
for a spin. sweet--no leaks anywhere. after about 4 passes around the block
the lifters settled in and sounded good. I have no plates on it--so i'm
limited to the hood cruises--haha. i sure miss living up in the mountains
where i could cruise dirt roads all day and maybe see 2 other cars. and the
syncro was happy cruising dirt roads to.

anyway. she sounded terrible and was puffing smoke. timing I figure. so I
let it sit overnight and the next day i readjusted the valves just for
measure. i'm kind of anal about valves--i do em every oil change on my old
air cooleds. started her up and got her warm. removed the temp sensor II and
did the timing to  5 BTDC at about 2100 rpm. it was way off by the way. she
sounds great now and my idle sits dead on at about 900 rpm. take her out for
a drive. all is good--for a while. seems intermitiant. when shes fully
warm--some times she starts to sputter and has no throttle responce. I push
in the clutch--and rpms go to zero then up and down to 900. if i give her
gas--she die out.

after i restart--every thing will be good for a while longer--then repeat of
above. I really think she is running rich to begin with. she blows some
black smoke out and smells rich. This has to be electrical/injection related
I would think. or maybe an intake leak? only other thing--my muffler has
some small holes in it on the outlet end--but everything else is tight and
leak free on the exhaust. I thought about replacing my O2 sensor--but
couldnt get the old one out. so i left it for now--may be suspect.

like i said--seems intermittent. took it out last night so I could use the
garage to replace alt. in the subaru. drove it for a while since she was
started. she ran fine. got the subi done and was gonna put her back in the
garage. again--going for a ride. this time she acted up. its really werd.

so--i'm looking for any advise as to help me over come this issue. bentley
goes through setting O2 emmissions etc. but the fanciest test equipment i
have is a multimeter. i'd really like to get it figured out and get some
more miles on it than the 10+ i've put on in the "hood'. yes--the neighbors
think i'm crazy.

much thanks in advance--and sorry for length

mike