Date:         Sun, 15 Aug 2004 12:14:22 -0400
Reply-To:     John Runberg <jrunberg@MAC.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Runberg <jrunberg@MAC.COM>
Subject:      running poor when cold, OK when warm
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Could use the wisdom of the list to help find a gremlin.

My 83 1.9 runs very rough when cold to the point where she'll barely idle and needs higher revs to get off the line. Within 30sec (the time it takes me to drive out of the parking lot) she's settled down and idles OK. Another 30 sec and she runs pretty good, but with a little lumpiness in the idle. Once warm, the van runs strong with no issues.

Here's what I've done so far:
- new cap, rotor, wires, and plugs (gapped correctly)
- cleaned grounds and all electrical connections on the engine (have not done the ECU yet) and applied dielectric grease
- checked fuel pressure (32 w/ vacume line, 36 vacume diisconnected)
- checked Aux Air regulator and it appears to be functioning

While troubleshooting I noticed a couple strange things:
- accidently left an injector wire off when cleaning things and the van ran much smoother w/ no lumpiness. No power either. Wire back on and it acts like it used to.
- when checking fuel pressure, the needle bounced all over the place -- from about 26 to somewhere around 40. This was w/ the vacume line connected. Pinching the line made it hold steady at 32, but did not affect how it was running.

Thoughts? Opinions?

john