Vanagon EuroVan
Previous messageNext messagePrevious in topicNext in topicPrevious by same authorNext by same authorPrevious page (March 2005, week 1)Back to main VANAGON pageJoin or leave VANAGON (or change settings)ReplyPost a new messageSearchProportional fontNon-proportional font
Date:         Thu, 3 Mar 2005 20:23:52 -0500
Reply-To:     Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Need diesel Vanagon advice/help (longish)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

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.

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.

Now for the advice part. When we put the diesel engine into the Vanagon, it was running so well, I didn't want to mess anything up. So instead of swapping over the diesel Vanagon fuel injection pump, I left the Rabbit one on the engine. However this required us to swap the throttle arm on top of the fuel pump from the Vanagon pump to the Rabbit pump. When we were going to do this I though the arm could only go on one way. That there was a notch in it or something that would prevent a dummy like me from taking it off and putting it on wrong. However there is not. The splined shaft is the same all the way around so you can put the linkage arm on pretty much any way you want. But the pump itself cares which way the arm is on and it will not work properly without it in a specific orientation. So I am suspecting that our power problem could be due to the fact that this linkage arm is not installed properly. Therefore the throttle is not getting the chance to open up all of the way and therefore we are not getting the full power that the engine can deliver. It would be like trying to drive with a rock under the pedal. So my question is, is there a way to know that you have the throttle arm on, in the proper orientation? If so how?

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?

Any and all advice is much appreciated. Thanks for listening and caring.

Ken Wilford John 3:16 www.vanagain.com


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.