Date:         Tue, 31 Aug 2004 02:14:01 -0400
Reply-To:     tabe johnson <xtabe@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         tabe johnson <xtabe@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Troubleshooting Opinions Wanted (was: WTB or borrow ECU)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I've gotten quite a few ECU offers over the last day; thank you all!

I wanted to describe my symptoms again to see if anyone has
clever ideas that I haven't thought of yet, for problems with
my '87 Westy with stock 2.1L:

Typically, when the engine is cold, it will stall (if at idle)
then start right up again once or twice in the first 10 minutes
of running.  When the engine is under load, it's as if someone
has briefly switched off the ignition key -- the van lurches and
_sometimes_, the tach drops instantly to zero.  When the
engine starts to run again, ~1 second later, the tach goes
back where it belongs.  Sometimes the tach doesn't drop
to zero.  It generally runs better after the engine is
warm, and worse after it's been raining.

Because of the tach's behaviour, I am thinking electrical/ignition.
So, I have wiggled all connections and tapped components with a
screwdriver with the engine running - no  changes. (Here I'm talking
about the distributor, coil, main relay, fuel injection, computer)  I have
swapped both the distributor and the AFM with used replacements.
No change.  I have checked the voltage difference of all the grounds
with the engine running-- again, all OK.

So I'm thinking ECU.  Any other ideas?  I just thought -- idle
control unit or throttle switch maybe?  Grounds?

Thanks to all,

--tabe johnson
Vancouver BC

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