Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (November 2004, week 3)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Sat, 20 Nov 2004 00:04:07 -0800
Reply-To:     mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         mark drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: oh shit, here we go again
Comments: To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To:  <E1CVOAc-0005rk-00@smtp03.mrf.mail.rcn.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Hopefully, that will be the end of your problem. I assume that you refer to the 2 pin connector that plugs into the side of the relay box on the left side of the engine bay. That connector provides power to the fuel pump all right as well as being the main power feed to the entire fuel injection system.

You should be advised that the red wire in that connector is a known failure area. The wire gets burned spots inside the insulation and then things stop working. Just wiggling the wire may seem to fix it but only for a while. All the power for the ECU, injectors, and fuel pump go through that one smallish red wire.

The first time I saw that problem was on my friend Peter's 89 Westy Syncro. While caravaning back from a Baja kayaking trip his engine just died in the middle of a shoulderless highway, hundreds of miles south of the border. Fortunately I had my Digitool. We hooked it up and immediately saw that the ECU was not getting power. After a few minutes with the wiring diagrams and a volt meter we determined that the power was present on one end of that red wire but not at the other. We peeled back the boot at the relay box end and could see a blackened spot in the large red wire just before the connector pin. We cut out the bad spot and spliced a short piece of wire in it's place. Good to go, to everyone's relief.

I recently learned that the old links to Darrell Boehler, inventor of the Digitool, no longer work. Does anyone have a way to contact him?

Mark

Joy Hecht wrote:

>Well, the pool doesn't seem to have taken off, but I did get a couple of >queries about which connection was loose. > >It was the wires that plug into the fuel pump relay - connect the ignition >to it, I assume. The plug had simply come loose. > >At least that's what it looks like from the drawings in the Bentley. I'm >not opening my engine to check. If you'd ever seen how my van is packed, >you'd know why! > > >


Back to: Top of message | Previous page | Main VANAGON page

Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!


Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com


The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.

Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.