Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 15:47:53 -0400
Reply-To: Thomas Brobst <TJBROBS@ACCUSORT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Thomas Brobst <TJBROBS@ACCUSORT.COM>
Subject: Re: help with 91GL problem - it likes flatbed rides too much
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Sorry it took so long for me to post this but I did finally find and fix the problem.
I'm posting this not only to share the technical solution but the method in which I diagnosed it.
First, to recap the problem:
> My wifes 91 GL with 122,000mi left her stranded yesterday
> 65 miles from home. She shut it off to use the facilities
> and when she went to restart it would crank... but not
> start-up. .....
When it was dropped off the flatbead at the dealer it started right up (of course) and seemed to run fine. The only solution to an intermittent problem I felt was to ignore it until it became non-intermittent which it did several days later.....fortunaltely, near home and fortunately with my wife in the car. She coasted it home and took one of our Jettas to the dealer, kidnapped the service manager and dragged him home to fix the van. Sure enough, after a while of unplugging things and trying the starter he said "Replace this part." She picked one up when returning him to his shop I installed it that evening. It's never run better since! AThe culprit was............the temp2 sensor.!
In the end the "lister" who got it right was: TJ Hannink <tjhannink@yahoo.com> whose response follows:
The temp2 sensor provides engine/coolant temperature
information to the ECU so it can provide the proper
air/fuel mixture at a given operating temperature. It
is located in the left front of the engine compartment
on the left side of the thermostat housing. A second
temperature sensor is located on the front of the
housing that connects directly to the temperature
gauge on the dashboard.
My sensor was telling the ECU that the motor was cold
even after it had been run, so when you tried to
restart, it would provide extra fuel and flood the
motor.
Good luck,
Thanks to everyone who responded with their advise. It was all good.
Thomas Brobst
Accu-Sort Systems, Inc
Staff Mechanical Engineer
215-721-5061
fax 215-799-1600
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? -Albert Einstein