Date:         Sat, 24 Jun 2006 14:52:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Kragen Sitaker <kragen@POBOX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kragen Sitaker <kragen@POBOX.COM>
Subject:      Re: Broke down in Omaha
Comments: To: dooley <pdooley@GTE.NET>

dooley wrote:
> I missed the beginning of this thread, but still can't understand how
> pistons are burning if your only getting 16mpg.  It can't be a lean running
> condition.  Is ignition timing advanced too much?

Well, the exhaust smells like unburned hydrocarbons, and I imagine it
wouldn't smell like that if it were running lean, would it?  So I
don't think it's running lean at idle.  But I don't have the chance to
smell the exhaust when it's running down the highway.  I suspect that
whatever the ignition timing might have been, the repair shop may have
readjusted it by now.  I probably should check it, though.

The EGR valve linkage is disconnected --- I think I need to find a way
to get it to stay on.  It keeps falling off.  I imagine that could
conceivably cause a lean running condition at idle.

I notice that it can maintain nearly the same speed with the
accelerator halfway down as if I completely floor it.  Is that normal?

Anthony Zygmunt wrote to say that his 1981 air-cooled Westy gets
nearly the same gas mileage, and he overheated his engine before he
installed a head temperature sensor.