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Date:         Thu, 27 Feb 2003 21:11:50 -0800
Reply-To:     Mark Belanger <belanger@FLUID.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Belanger <belanger@FLUID.COM>
Organization: Fluid, Inc.
Subject:      Re: Uncle... '91 won't catch
In-Reply-To:  <3E58677B.9030403@fluid.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

So thanks to a number of people, but especially Ward Smith, I've managed to track down the problem to electrical. Nothing is coming off the coil, despite having proper voltage. I actually had a spare coil handy and swapped it in with no change. Oh, yeah, this is fun...

Following Bentley, I tested the Hall Sender(28.43) and got ~11V, so that looked good. However, on the function check, I didn't get any flicker from my light meter. Uh, Bingo? Since I was at the second to last page in the chapter and since the most complex ignition system I've worked on prior to this was in a '76 Bronco(battery, coil, distributor, wires, plugs and voltage regulator: now that's what I call an ignition system!), I decided to do the final ignition switching function test(28.44) and it returned 4.66V, which seems normal.

So, can I take Bentley as definitive: dead Hall sender? If not, I assume the Hall control and Hall generator is next, but is it the same process to test as in the Digijet section of Bentley

Thanks much, -MB

Mark Belanger wrote: > Greetings all, > > After scouring Gerry and trying to digest about a million messages with > the topic of "won't start," pouring through Haynes and Bentley, I'm at a > loss. > > Here's the scenario: > I have a '91 Automatic, originally from Florida that I picked up about 6 > months ago in California. She's always purred(apart from a month of > cold stalls, but that went away). About a week ago, I was driving back > from work had gone about 5 blocks when she just died at a light and > wouldn't start. Plenty of juice and the starter cranked, but she > wouldn't catch. It was raining early that day, so I chalked it up to > some electrical problem, but after a week in a dry garage, she's still > dead. > > Here are the things checked and/or replaced: > - Fuel: half a tank > - Battery: removed and fully charged > - Battery contacts cleaned and greased > - New cap, rotors, wires > - New plugs - old ones looked very clean > - Checked coil resistance per Bentley > - Checked voltage coming off Hall wiring connector per Bentley > - Checked air flow meter resistance per Haynes > - Checked fuel relay on ignition - clicks > - Checked fuel pump on ignition - pressurizes > - Checked and cleaned two ground bolts near coil > - Checked every visible connector within the engine - no corrosion > > Odd things: > - rotor and inside of cap *heavily* scored at contact points. > - Figured it hadn't been replaced in a while. > - Power steering pressure sensor disconnected. > - However, it was covered in grease, so it had been disconnected for a > long time. > - Wiring harness at tee near left rear lights, split with some cuts. > - Suggested the previous owner had some electrical problems that were > troubleshot. > > So none of this points to a clear culprit to me. The only remaining > tests on the ignition system listed in Bentley that I haven't done > involve the ECU, which I'm not comfortable screwing with yet. Also, > having never owned a fuel injected car before(god bless the carburetor), > I've resisted anything beyond superficial fuel system tests. > > Is anyone aware of a thorough checklist of how to troubleshoot such a > problem. I'd really like to be able to track this down myself, but am > at a loss to what to do next. > > > Thanks, > MB


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