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Date:         Sun, 28 Sep 2003 16:48:33 -0700
Reply-To:     Harald Rust <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Harald Rust <harald_nancy_vw@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      The "Other" Vanagon Syndrome, Part II
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

From http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/vw-camping/ After spending many days touring the Yellowstone geysers, wildlife viewing, photographing the Grand Tetons, and driving hundreds of miles in the parks at 8,000 feet, it's time to go back home to Washington. In the parks, the vanagon runs perfect, and our confidence has returned. We exit Yellowstone at the north entrance, and proceed on to Livingston, Montana, and there top off with Exxon premium and get back on I-90 west. After 50 miles on the highway, it starts all over again, bucking, backfiring, loss of power, as if someone back in the engine compartment cut the fuel supply off. We are 800 miles from home, and there are some big mountain passes in front of us, and it's becoming very nerve-wracking. We pull over once again, move all the things onto the camper floor, and open up the engine compartment. Start up the waterboxer, and now it confounds us by idling really nicely again. Back on the freeway, after another 60 miles or so, it starts stumbling again. After a very long day of slow driving, we limp into Butte, Montana with 35 mph and the emergency flashers blinking. Camp at the KOA. In the morning we buy a new fuel filter at a store, and replace the old one at the KOA. (for good measure, also put in the spare coil.) I cut open the old fuel filter, which is also fairly new. Hardly any dirt in it. The paper element looks just fine. There are a few water droplets in the fuel, but nothing that should make the vanagon stop running. People blame a lot of problems on bad gas. I was always skeptical of that, because the other cars seem to run ok on the same gas. The vanagon isn't that different, or is it? So if it's not bad gas, what is it then? The symptoms are always a leaning out of the fuel. So finally we realize it could be clogged fuel injectors. Maybe clogged or worn fuel injectors are more sensitive to reformulated gas containing ethanol(?) Maybe that's the reason some vanagons seem to run better on certain brands of gas. In Western Washington our vanagon always ran great on the cheapest regular gas. Maybe the heat of all-day freeway driving makes the varnish deposits in the fuel injectors stick(?) Stuck fuel injectors is something that we hadn't thought of up until that point. Our injectors have been replaced once, but are about 9 years old with 110,000 miles on them. Never really added much detergent to clean them on a regular basis. So we drive down to the gas station mart, and stock up on 5 bottles of Techron additive. The guy behind the counter comments on how expensive the stuff is, and that's why he rides a bicycle. So we start by pouring 2 bottles of Techron in the fuel tank. Get back on the freeway, a little later the vanagon starts bucking once again. Another 100 miles later, the bucking becomes less severe, and sometimes I'm even able to keep up with traffic on a uphill grade. At the next fill up, add more Techron. By the time we reach Idaho, the vanagon runs really great again, and the stumbling totally disappears. We drive all the way back home without any problems. Still with all this, we don't consider the problem fixed. It's probably time to replace the fuel injectors, or at least, take them out, and send them in for ultrasound cleaning or something. Some research shows that European car fuel injectors are more sensitive to sticking than domestic. So it looks like we'll be replacing the fuel injectors soon, even though the vanagon is running really well again right now. Harald '90 westy

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