Date:         Thu, 4 Aug 2005 19:12:48 +0000
Reply-To:     Robert Rountree <syncro87@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Rountree <syncro87@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Intermittent power loss
Comments: cc: gronski@GMAIL.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

>Original message (chopped and channeled)
>Date:    Thu, 4 Aug 2005 09:33:38 -0400
>From:    Christopher Gronski <gronski@GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Intermittent power loss

>I had a great trip out to Lake Superior this weekend, but .....my van
>bucking on the way home. ....
and the van lurched as it lost power.

did your tach drop to...0...?     then bounce back?

>>but could this be a ground issue?

anything's possible... this problem drove me crazy (a very short run in my
case;^)
I did it all... AFM wiper-then new AFM , capacitor fix, extra grounds... I
was ready to go as far as wearing aluminum foil hats to stop the gamma rays
from mars....plus those hats look smart when I play my Devo CD's.........
THEN I took out my main ECU... took it apart... and inside were some large
red resistors.. which had solder joints that had become partially undone. it
takes a good 8X loupe or magnifier glass to see... I marked all these cold
joints I could find, plugged in the soldering iron and carefully reset them
all with a little extra silver. End of problem for 5k... then at some great
river mouth in Oregon one morning it happened again... this time I was
ready... resolder again and that's lasted 15k+ and still running and
leaking... my theory on this is....after a long run feel your ECU... Hot
Eh?....Stop packing stuff all around it... give it some air...that's why
they built that shield around it, with the heat sink  fins and all... I now
carry a spare ECU. & ICU.

Tomorrow we have a memorial service for my old close friend and Mentor Ron
Lockhart... we worked at Ogilvy & Mather Toronto, together for a long
time... in fact he's the only Art Director I know who got a pension. After
that I'm going up to the cabin on Lake Superior, if you see my silver Syncro
westy...near Montreal river harbour.... at least honk... I don't bite...I
just bark and howl at the moon.

RR