Date:         Tue, 27 May 2003 14:05:42 -0700
Reply-To:     Brian brian <jackstraw723@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Brian brian <jackstraw723@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      1.9L vanagon syndrome (lawnnnggg)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hello there, I am not a regular list member, as I work
on the road and I can’t afford the email, but I’ve
been reading the archives a lot the last day or two,
and am still stuck, and could use some help...but this
is quite a long email. Sorry for the length, but I
don't know which detail will make the difference.

The Van: is a 1984 Westfalia (built 12/83). I bought
it three years ago from a VW shop after they had put
new heads on the infamous 1.9L; mileage at that point
was 85K. At about 105K I had a ‘complete’ tune-up done
by a mechanic, which included plugs, wires, cap, and
rotor. I don’t know how much work he did or didn’t do;
i.e. I don’t know if he adjusted the timing at that
point (I suspect not). This guy uses whatever cheap
crap the parts store will deliver to him (I live in a
small town in northern Michigan and the local parts
store can’t even get Bosch parts); the van has been
through a few more caps and wires since then, for
awhile there was a hodge-podge ignition system - a
month ago I cracked two caps in one night driving
through a flooded construction zone during a downpour.
 The van is now up to 160K.

Me: I am not a trained mechanic. Everything I’ve
learned has generally been the hard way, but I do feel
I have a good handle on the fuel-injection system and
how everything works in the Wasserboxer. The first and
best investment I made in the van was buying the
Bentley book.

The Problem: poor running. More specifically,
continually running rich (I think).

The Story: began last year I think. When I would turn
on the van when it was very hot, like after a few
hours on the road a brief stop to fill up the tank, a
large puff of white smoke would come out the exhaust.
(Not black; I don’t think even 100 ml of oil
disappears between regular oil changes (I use Mann
filters from Germany)). This winter I only drove it
about twice a month as I have a work vehicle during my
winter job. This spring I noticed a bit more
blue/white smoke in the exhaust, and not just on cold
mornings. My first thought was water in the gas; my
tank leaks at the top somewhere if I top it off, so
I’ve been thinking this perhaps allows some moisture
into the fuel system. So about every fourth tank I use
a bottle of gas line conditioner, just in case. I run
a fuel injector cleaner at every oil change.
        While working this spring and driving daily,
performance has been crappy; rough starts, occasional
power loss, occasional complete hiccup where it seems
like time stops for the motor (more specifically like
it is not getting gas for a split second).
        A side story - this strange hiccup would occur last
year in conjunction with any significant bump in the
road. One day I hit a bump and the motor shut down. I
had spark, fuel, and plenty of crank in the starter
(electrical system already redone; rebuilt alternator,
starter, and new battery), but no running. I
discovered the problem when I accidentally left the
key on while I went back to start testing the sensors
and such (I learned about the dirty ground problem the
hard way two years ago and the ground connections are
kept clean now) - I happened to bump the wires coming
out of the Hall Generator and the motor turned over.
One of the wires had broken inside the 90 degree
plastic bracket that connects the Hall unit to the
control unit spaghetti. This could have stranded me
for days where I live, but fortunately my second best
VW investment was not far away - another 84 Vanagon
(built 11/83) at a junkyard (I bought the whole thing
for $300, but can’t take it away as they keep vans for
storage, which is great because the only part I don’t
want is the body). I took the Hall connector off that
one, spliced it into the wires on my Westy, and was
good to go. I thought the wire slowly breaking in that
bend had been the source of the occasional hesitation,
and for several weeks the van ran great. But over the
winter and spring the hesitating problem came creeping
back. When I spliced in the new connector I only
wrapped the bare wire with electrical tape.
        So finally the other day I stopped working long
enough (gotta keep the $ coming in to keep a VW on the
road to get to work to keep the $ coming in to ....I
know my main mistake is using the van as my primary
and only vehicle) to give my dear bus a little TLC. I
put nice connectors on the wire connections to the
Hall Generator. I put on a new fuel filter (it had
been close to two years and perhaps 40K miles). A week
earlier I had stopped at an import/VW specialist 150
miles away while working (I work on the road) and
bought a complete set of Bosch goodies - cap, rotor,
Bosch wires, and platinum plugs. I installed all those
yesterday. No change in performance.
        So I broke out the digital multi-meter and the
Bentley and started testing. Temp Sensor I & II and
the Air-flow sensor all gave resistance readings
perfectly in line with the chart. I even put on the
air-box from my junkyard vanagon (also 150K miles, no
knowledge if that motor runs or not), which also
performed correctly, but did not solve the problem. In
fact, everything seemed to be getting worse. My new
platinum plugs were fouled within 40 miles (I drove to
another VW shop for some opinions and help). I tried
more of the Bentley tests. When testing using the pins
on the ECU connector, the resistance on the fuel
injectors was consistently (on all four) about 19
rather than the 16.5 the book suggests, but this
doesn’t seem significant. I couldn’t quite get the
tests of the throttle switches to work out right; the
switches work correctly, but checking the voltage
across the switches just after turning off the motor
wouldn’t work. Bentley says they should read 5V, but
the meter would show a volt or two, quickly decreasing
down to 0. The book says this indicates a bad control
unit, but the ECU I’ve been using is already a rebuild
(long story that happened at 86K), I doubt I’ll have
two go bad, and anyway I have another ECU from the
junk vanagon that performs the same as my regular
unit.
        Finally at fifteen to five I remembered the forgotten
sensor - the O2. I got the parts store to have one on
the delivery truck coming in this morning. My O2
sensor had last been changed at approximately 50K
miles ago (the OXS bulb on the dash, along with the
other four little bulbs up there, don’t work). So, I
took out the O2, which was very, very black (none more
black), popped in the new one, and started it up. It
blew a cloud of smoke at first, and then it slowly
diminished to nothing. I then went for a beautiful
test drive at 75 mph with no problems. Perhaps 20
miles and a few testing stops and starts. Then I was
inside for an hour, came out to go to a jobsite, and
the fun began all over again. Barely starting,
stalling, hiccuping. OK, so I had been a bit lazy and
hadn’t changed the fouled plugs yet.
        So, another side story. When I got my new O2 sensor
this morning, I tried to buy new plugs. Bosch not
available here of course. Bentley suggests a Champion
288. The parts store said it didn’t exist. Their
computer reported that I needed a 302. I didn’t want
to, but I took their word for it and bought four of
those plugs. I’ve been through so much bullshit with
crap parts in my life (VW and domestic) that I don’t
much care for any parts store aside from The Bus Depot
and people who carry Bosch (Don’t get me started on
Auburn Hills, Michigan). I particularly distrust this
store, but I had no choice. So when the problems came
back this afternoon I put in the Champion plugs (the
Bosch platinums were indeed saturated, not just
carboned-up), but performance stayed the same if not
worsened. What Champion plugs would be correct? This
is the last thing I need to worry about at this point.
        So, what I have not done - two things I can think of.
I have not taken off the catalytic converter. Last
time I changed the muffler (two years and 40K miles
back), I looked at it and the element looked great. It
doesn’t appear like a cat that would plug up easily,
but those bolts are a bitch and I don’t look forward
to fighting with them again. I could put on the cat
from the junk vanagon, but don’t know its condition
yet. Would a period of running rich clog up the cat on
a Waterboxer? (I know it would on some other
vehicles). I also have not checked to see if the fuel
pressure regulator has gone bad. How common is that
possibility? A few folks I know, without VW
experience, think this would never happen, an
over-pressurized fuel system, but I read about it
here.
        Ok, one last bit of back-story. After a year of
owning the van, I turned it on one day to hear what
sounded to me like a bad lifter, like on an older
American car on a cold morning, a clanging that would
go away after a few minutes, except this wouldn’t go
away. I brought over my then mechanic, he agreed I
probably shouldn’t drive it, and I left the van with
him for the winter to figure it out. He had it for
five months and didn’t do a single thing. I’d call
once in awhile to see if he even got the hatch open
yet, but nothing. The day before I got back to my home
town he told me he’d have it done in a week. (He was
also replacing a window for me, which he did do). He
charged me $200 for supposedly rebuilding the rocker
arms, but I don’t think he did anything at all because
for another year and a half after that the clanging
sound would return about once every three months for a
day or two. I have had compression checks done (I
don't have a timing light, a tachometer, or a pressure
tester), which indicated three cylinders at 130 psi
and good old number 3 at 115, which didn't seem to be
a problem. Now, though. Yesterday I went to another
import place, the nice guy there didn't have much time
to help me but he did do a compression check and found
the same numbers except now #1 is at 100 psi. And
there is a definite bit of an unhappy sound (a ticking
sort-of sound) inside the motor, which has possibly
been increasing.
    One final small symptom is that there is a quite
small exhaust leak at the rear left pipe. I can't hear
it, but when there is smoke in the exhaust I can see a
little smoke coming out of this area.
     So I'm starting to worry that this motor's day
has come. I don't know what to do at this point, and
any suggestions would be appreciated. Change the
catalytic converter? Change the fuel pressure
regulator? Buy a new car? No, that option is not on
the table. Every time I wake up in my Westfalia, it's
all worth it.


Since I wrote that I have tested the fuel pressure,
which is good at 29 and 36. I switched out one of the
fuel pump relays because something was loose inside
relay 'C', but I don't know if the ones I switched in
are working. After the fuel pressure check I drove
around for an hour; everything was working great.
Started fine as many times as I wanted. I let it sit
for about six hours, and now it won't run at all; it
will start OK but then cut out immediately. I've been
wanting to get it to all the way hot to re-test the
Temp Sensor II at a high temp, but right now I can't
get it to run at all and I am out of ideas.... I'm
still wondering about the catalytic, but I don't think
that is the problem.

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