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Date:         Tue, 15 Apr 2003 10:16:17 -0500
Reply-To:     Jay Roth <bghuna@MCHSI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jay Roth <bghuna@MCHSI.COM>
Subject:      FW: [Vanagon-Westfalia] The Possible Answer to A Bunch of Vanagon
              Problems
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I'm new to the Vanagon world so I subscribed to as many groups/lists as I could. This one came today from the Westfalia group on Yahoo. I don't know if any of you also subscribe, but I see this author did NOT include this very active Vanagon Mailing list.

So, taking this for what it's worth, you may find it interesting or not at all. The author, Terry, seems to be very active on the other lists and has a few items of interest for sale on his website (I'm not endorsing, I'm exploring their quality). If you know of his products and can offer some feedback about them, I'd be interested in knowing.

Love, Light & Laughter, Jay '87 Westy

-----Original Message----- From: CTOnLine@webtv.net [mailto:CTOnLine@webtv.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 9:28 AM To: Vanagon@yahoogroups.com; Syncro@yahoogroups.com; Vanagon-Westfalia@Yahoogroups.com; VWVans@Yahoogroups.com; vwvanfulltimers@yahoogroups.com; WetWesties@yahoogroups.com Subject: [Vanagon-Westfalia] The Possible Answer to A Bunch of Vanagon Problems

Hey All,

I thought I would share this experience with you--which I believe may be the cure to a multitude of "Vanagon Syndrome" idiosyncrasies.

My 87 Westy ran pretty good--but suffered from real poor fuel economy, ( 13-14 mpg at best ) sometimes it would die upon starting it, and would only start again after putting the hammer down until it fired again--but then it would run OK. Sometimes it had an erratic idle--but not all the time, and at best it would cruise at no more than 75 mph and this was with zero headwind-- If I was running into the wind--at best, I'm talking 65 mph--and this is with the pedal mashed. Ok--after talking to innumerable folks on any list--I started replacing all, and every electrical component on or around the engine--filter's , timing, everything except the ECU. Things were getting better--but the fuel consumption was terrible and this really had me stumped--until last weekend.

My J-Pipe to the engine pipes had a small leak--pft--pft--pft, and I thought possibly this cold be giving the oxy sensor a bad reading, so I went to work-- The pipe flanges were tweaked, so I ground them, filed them, basically tried to make the match the J-Pipe mating surface perfectly so the new gaskets would seal good.

Success--the joint wasn't leaking so homeward bound I go--the Van wouldn't get out of it's own way--throttle response was terrible, and it seemed real poochie--no gotaine, slow.

I'm thinking--"there is some restriction here, and the only thing that could do that would be the converter".

Before I got home the exhaust leak was back at the J-Pipe, and it was running better--I knew then this was it--

So this last weekend I decided to replace my muffler (still original ) the saddles, and the straps. As soon as I dropped the muffler and cat--and separated them--I took my drop cord and put it on one end of the converter--no light coming through---

I took a 12" long sharp chisel and knocked out all of the rock inside the converter-and reinstalled all the new exhaust components--filed the J-Pipe and the engine exhaust flanges again--new gasket there--and fired her up--

No exhaust leaks--tight--good-- I head for home.

I am elated at the difference in overall performance---like the difference between night and day.

Idles smooth--perfect. Cold starts are no big deal--it fires right up and doesn't die. Throttle response it fantastic, and here is the best-- This Van has never seen 80 mph---I ran it down the road at 91 mph--( not long--just a high end blast)

Now this is my thought process on this finding, and cure-- While I am not condoning the removal of the converter's on your Vans-- I am suggesting to a lot of you out there who have some sort of continuous running problems--that can't seem to be resolved, regardless what you do--this may be the missing piece of the puzzle. Figure it this way---how many of you have actually replaced the original converter on your over 100 k Van?

Not too many I'd bet--and these things have such tiny passages in the stone that is suppose to clean up the exhaust--I can see where this would be a big problem in performance, and the engine running poorly if plugged up.

My 85 has the converter gutted, and only because the stone self destructed--and was rattling, so I took the broken stone out and it has always ran real good--and gets good gas mileage.

The 87 Westy I figured was just a heavier vehicle, and was doomed to poor fuel economy.

I went for a ride Sunday--and the Westy is now getting 19 mpg--amazing !

So--before you guys with the "Syndrome" problems start replacing all the electrical engine components first--I would suggest at least removing the converter and inspecting it--you might save yourself a bunch of money--and aggravation.

Later,

______________ |[ ] [ ] [ ]\ | | | | ~~~ ~||-(())----(())-|

Terry--

"Zoom, Zoom, Zoom" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://community.webtv.net/CTONLINE/terryshighonlifepage

http://community.webtv.net/VanStuff/VanagonWestfalia

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