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Date:         Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:06:56 -0700
Reply-To:     Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Michael Diehr <md03@XOCHI.COM>
Subject:      Help diagnose Cinco
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Our beloved van "Cinco" (an 85 purchased for $5k on Cinco-de-Mayo) stalled on the freeway yesterday returning from an otherwise wonderful vacation. We managed to tow it home with the help of a u- haul auto-transporter, a cable-pull, and a lot of grunting, swearing, & sweat.

I'd greatly appreciate help with a diagnosis.

The details: 85 Westy 1.9l automatic transmission. 150k miles on engine. One head replaced by PO (not sure of mileage) Has long-term minor head leak (exhaust smells a bit like coolant, burns about 1 liter / 200 miles) Has low oil pressure at idle, which is tolerable with 20/50 mobil 1. Within last 5000 miles has had: new (rebuilt) AFM new cap & rotor new plugs new radiator new fuel filters (has both kinds, pre- (NA) and post- (California) fuel pump) Has a rough idle, and tends to stall unless you give the idle adjustment screw a few turns open, in which case it tends to idle at 1500rpm. Runs fine on the freeway -- gets about 18mpg @ 60mph Passed california emissions just barely (HC was near the cutoff).

The event: We had just driven over the grapevine and were cruising along I-5. It was evening, and temperatures were dropping. Car was driving fine. Stopped for gasoline. Got back on the freeway, and was driving fine. 10 miles later, power abruptly cut w/o warning. Pulled to side of freeway. It would crank just fine, but not start (not even a cough). Checked all fuses, hoses, pulleys, etc. Had car towed to a gas station. After unloading from the towtruck, tried to start it, and it immediately started, then immediately stopped within 2 seconds. The engine sounded completely normal when it started, and it cut off abruptly (it didn't sputter to a halt). It wouldn't start again.

Diagnostic info: Coolant was about an inch below top in the main tank, but there were no signs of overheating. All spark plug wires and look good, resistance is within specs. Rotor & cap look quite burned for being fairly new. Note : these are cheap third-party cap & rotor, however. Fuel pump runs and appears to have good pressure (as judged by gasoline shooting 5 feet in the air when cranking with the pressure-T screw out. Yes, that is a stupid way to test it!) Did the Bentley 35-pin connector test. All results were unremarkable, i.e. injector resistances, throttle closed & open switches, ground Ohms, etc. Note: At one point, the "left relay" test did not appear to have 12v when ignition switched on. I repeated the test later and it did, so I'm not sure if this was my error or a vital clue. Appears to have spark when cranking (removed sparkplug and grounded it while cranking). Sparkplugs are wet & oily looking, but this was only noticed after cranking it for a long time w/o starting. Normally the plugs are light brown. During multiple starting attempts, had two backfires. These were apparently explosions in the crankcase (?) as smoke popped out of both valve covers, and in fact the right valve cover was blown off it's seat. Put the spring back on and it sealed back up ok. The left back set of grounds was somewhat corroded. Cleaned and re-tightened them but no change. Through perhaps 50 starting attempts, perhaps once or twice it would cough for a 1/4 second but never seemed to even give the hint of starting up.

Theories: We initially suspected bad gasoline, since the problem happened about 1/2 gallon away from the gas station under otherwise mild conditions (air temperature dropping, cruising at steady throttle). However, the pump seemed to have good pressure (though we've not actually measured it with a gague). Other folks have suggested "bad grounds" / EFI as the problem. The fact that the car did start after being towed and sounded totally normal for 2 seconds and then wouldn't start again does sound electrical in nature. Not sure what to make of the backfires / crankcase explosions. Possibly just a side-effect of repeated cranking w/o starting? Or could this be gas in the oil, caused by injectors running too rich?

Ideas / Suggestions?

-Mike


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