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Date:         Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:51:18 -0800
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Re: Need diesel Vanagon advice/help (longish)
Comments: To: Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <4227B8A8.1010800@comcast.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 3 Mar 2005 at 20:23, Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET> wrote:

> I have an 83 diesel Vanagon with a 5 speed transmission. When I got it, > it had a bum engine and we took the engine out of an 82 diesel Rabbit. > The rabbit belonged to a friend of mine and I had driven it many times, > and also I had driven it probably less than 500 miles before I pulled > the engine out and put it in the van. It always had good power (for a > diesel rabbit). The car zipped along and didn't struggle on the road. > However in the van it is a much different story. It does not accelerate > at all. It struggles to get up to 40 mph and then if you had a really > long flat straight you might be able to get it up to 55 mph and put it > in 5th gear but you are flooring the accelerator the entire time.

So you decided to keep it, huh? It'll grow on you I think... :-)

> Now we have some options: > 1. This is normal, and I just have to live with it. > 2. This is not normal and even though the van has low power it can do > better than it is doing. > > I really don't have any experience with driving a diesel Vanagon so > perhaps some of you out there can chime in who actually own and drive them.

I don't have much experience - I've driven 4 of them total, all 4 speed 82s, but all were able to reach 55mph without much trouble, although it takes a while.

> If the throttle arm is not the culprit are there any other ways to get a > little more out of this engine to make the van more driveable?

I suspect the arm is the culprit. Does it reach the stop screw when pedal is mashed? Is there a dead spot off idle where moving the pedal does nothing? If so, it could be the lever is on wrong, so the actual rotation of the fuel control is less than it should be. If you can't get some smoke under full pedal, this could be a clue you're not getting full movement also.

It's been years since I've had one apart, so I can't recall the details, but I remember that putting it back together is not all the obvious. Perhaps you can transfer the lever mechanism from the DV pump to get the correct orientation.

Also, how does it run at idle? Any misfiring? This is a sign of air in the fuel lines, which can also rob power. A plugged fuel filter and/or loose fuel lines can be the cause here.

Good luck. Shawn Wright http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright '85 Jetta TD (retired) '85 Jetta D '88 Westy 2.1L '82 Diesel Westy


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