Just a quick update on my '87 Westy troubleshooting (occasional poor acceleration on warmup): I talked to Bob Donalds several times today and he walked me through some preliminary troubleshooting steps on my van. I disconnected the O2 sensor and did a good inspection of the engine. The inside of the tailpipe is covered with soot and there's a black spot at one of the flanges in the exhaust pipes, the frontmost connection that has two pipes from the exhaust manifold join into one before heading back to the cat. I figured that the O2 sensor is not going to be any good (if it still is) if my exhaust is putting out that much soot. Next, I checked the timing. This was a whole lot easier to do because of the red paint dots Bob had put on the crankshaft pulleys. The timing is almost dead on, but it bounces around a little bit, about a quarter to half an inch. Because it was bouncing around, Bob had me check the throttle switch. At the throttle switch, I got continuity until I move the throttle about a quarter inch, then the switch opened, just like it's supposed to. The timing bouncing around at this point may indicate a worn distributor, but I'm not going to worry about that right now. The next step I'm going to take is to get out my Bentley, pull the ECM connector, and check all the sensors to see if they're operating properly (and be sure the harness is okay), and to check all the grounds. Then I'll dig into the fuel supply system. That's all for now. Marc Perdue |
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Vanagon mail messages have been archived.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.