Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 23:23:46 -0500
Reply-To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Engine dies, now which distributor?? (long winded)
In-Reply-To: <02ab01c4ffd2$8059cb80$6001a8c0@C424264A>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Don can't give me any credit for putative solutions to his problems,
actually. I was in his van the second time she died! So even with Joy, he
had no joy. He was Not happy about it, either. But I had a great time
hanging out with his friend Mary Ann while Don rode off into the darkness
with the tow truck operator.
But Don was great and fixed my odometer and coached me through installing my
headlight relay upgrade and third headlight switch. So I hope someone out
there can help him, too!
Joy
****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon
For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
****************************************************************
:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of Don in North Carolina
:::Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 11:02 AM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Engine dies, now which distributor?? (long winded)
:::
:::Hello all!
:::
:::Here is my sad tale of woe:
:::
:::The van - 1988 Vanagon GL
:::
:::The symptoms - While driving, engine would cut out / die for a second,
:::tachometer immediately goes to 0. Looked around in engine bay, didn't
:::find
:::anything. Figured I would live with it unless it got worse. Well, it
:::got
:::worse - while driving at ~55 MPH, engine dies and stays dead. Coast off
:::the
:::road, try to restart - cranks over but no joy. Go back, look around the
:::engine compartment, wiggle wires (a technical specialty of mine) try to
:::restart, cranks but no start. Look in the back again, still don't see
:::anything, try to start - starts right up!, runs like nothing had ever
:::happened. Drive home, runs fine, no issues. Do a search on the
:::archives,
:::find a comment from Joy about her issues and how they had found the plug
:::loose going to the black box (CDI box above coil on left hand side of
:::engine
:::bay). Push on my plug, moves about 1/8 inch and feel a click - Ah hah
:::says
:::I! Next few days uneventful, van runs well and all seems fine (you can
:::see
:::what's coming, can't you?). Out on a drive, speed about 45 - engine
:::dies,
:::tachometer goes to 0. This time it would not start, and after ~45
:::minutes
:::of trying battery is low enough that it obviously isn't going to start.
:::Tow
:::home (thanks AAA+). Pull battery and charge. Next morning, put battery
:::back in van (battery is ~8 months old, BTW), on second attempt, van
:::starts
:::and runs fine. Intermittent problems, the bane of troubleshooters
:::everywhere!
:::
:::The solution (hopefully) - looked in archives (I used different keywords
:::this time), found several mentions of the same type of issue and all were
:::reported to be due to a defective Hall Effect sensor in the distributor.
:::Now I know that the sensor is available separately, but I am planning to
:::replace the complete distributor (piece of mind issue). The complete
:::distributor is about $70 more than the sensor itself (not counting the
:::new
:::o-rings and anything else you find wrong when working on the
:::distributor).
:::
:::The new problem - there are at least three different part numbers listed
:::for
:::the distributor:
:::0.986.237.639, 0237.520.046 and 025.905.205AG. It appears that the last
:::two
:::numbers may be for the 90-91 models. I know that the distributor caps
:::and
:::rotors are different for the 90-91 models, but are the distributors still
:::interchangeable with the old ones - in other words, are the specs the
:::same
:::and will the hall effect plug fit? What did they change, to "improve"
:::the
:::newer distributors?
:::
:::TIA,
:::Don in Reidsville, NC
:::1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie) - For Sale!
:::1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia)
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