Just bought a 1990 GL, PO had brand new heads installed recently(hint). When the van gets up to operating temps, it loses power under load, esp. when going up hills. A restart would restore the power for a short time. Another clue was that the plugs were black and fouled from running rich. Since this is not my first VW, I decided NOT to start the expensive, 'replace everything until it goes away'. I cleaned all of the ECU grounds (the big braid ground from the head was just hanging there!) and it ran better while warming up, but it still lost power under load when fully warm. Searched the archives, and found a few articles about a 'hidden' ground wire on the driver's head under the intakes - Ground Point 18 or GP18. This ground provides path for the O2 sensor. I look, and sure enough, its just hanging in mid air - probably from when the heads were done. Had to remove the intakes to clean and rebolt that sucker down. Now the van drives flawlessly and has plenty of power up hills. Anyone who has had heads done by a shop and is experiencing weirdness might want to check GP18. I guess the O2 sensor was sensing a lean condition and telling the brain to enrichen the mixture? John Haddad |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.