Date:         Sat, 26 Feb 2005 17:12:33 -0500
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject:      Boston Bob, a prince among men (sorry Bob)
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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