Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 13:33:20 -0800
Reply-To: Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: 2 Q's: one FI, one transmission
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hi all:
I just recently completed putting the Vanagon engine I rebuilt a couple of
years ago into my '82 Westy and a couple of issues have come up.
Fuel Injection issue:
As part of the installation of the new engine in the vehicle I substituted a
water-cooled catalytic converter and muffler for the originals; for one
thing I wanted to have an O2 sensor bung so I could check air/fuel mixture.
(As an aside to anyone considering doing this, I had to cut and re-weld my
tail pipe to make this work OK.)
Today I dove under the vehicle to connect my voltmeter to the O2 sensor (I'm
going to route the sensor wire into the engine bay so, in the future, this
is an easier task) and found out the mixture is too lean and no amount of
fiddling with the CO adjustment screw would bring it into the right range.
I know the first thought is "air leak" but I'm 99% sure this isn't the
issue. I used many new hoses in the install and the engine started right up
and settled into the proper idle RPM range after its 20 minute break-in.
Too, the idle responds readily to adjustment of the idle screw.
The only thing I can think of that might be causing this is that the AFM
air-vane spring was adjusted at some point by the PO, and he over-did the
adjustment. I'm thinking I need to break in to the AFM and back off the
spring a bit, unless anyone has some other thought about the too-lean
condition.
Anyone?
Transmission issue:
While the old engine was out I drained the transmission oil and replaced it.
I also did a lot of cleaning up of the transmission case itself which was
pretty darn grimy. I think I understand now why that thing was so dirty: I
have a fairly good-sized oil leak from the front end of the transmission.
Although it's hard to see up there, my guess right now is that the leak is
coming from between the gearshift housing and geartrain housing and I'm
thinking that the gasket between these two parts needs replacing.
Is replacing this gasket something that the home mechanic can/should
attempt, or should I resign myself to visiting a transmission specialist?
TIA.
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Tom Young '81 Vanagon
Lafayette, CA 94549 '82 Westfalia
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