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Date:         Thu, 11 Nov 2004 12:39:40 -0800
Reply-To:     alvaro@EECS.BERKELEY.EDU
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alvaro San Paulo <alvaro@EECS.BERKELEY.EDU>
Subject:      84 Camper engine dying
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Dear all,

I have spent several days trying to find a message in the archive describing my trouble. Since I have not been able to find any one that exactly matches my trouble, here it goes.

The engine of my automatic 84 vanagon dies from time to time while driving. It happens suddenly, without any previous noise or anything, and even I may not even notice it for a few seconds. I have not been able to identify a pattern of behavior when it happens (I mean the behavior of the van, mine would be subject of a mental health list). It has happened at various speeds, engine cold or hot, day or night?

When it happens, I can not start the engine unless I do the following. I unplug the idle stabilizer box and bypass it. Then the engine starts normally. If right after this I remove the bypass and re-plug the idle stabilizer box again, the engine also starts normally, as if nothing had happened. Then I can drive normally but it may take a few hundred miles until this happens again. Every time that happened, I was able to restart the engine only by doing all this. If I don't do this or anything else, the engine will restart only after a few hours, typically one day after.

Trying to solve the problem, I have already replaced the idle stabilized by a new one, and also I have been used a loaned Main Electronic Control Unit (used) for about 600 miles, and all this keeps on happening.

It seems as an electrical problem, but my mechanic does not know what to do because it seems to be difficult to track the problem when the engine is working normally, and there is no way to foresee when this will happen again, and I can't take the van to him to be inspected when the engine just died. However, the way I use to restart the engine bypassing the idle stabilizer is so reproducible that I guess it should be a clue to where to start looking for the cause of the engine dying? hopefully...

Any comments, suggestions, similar problems observed?

Alvaro San Paulo

84 GL full camper


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