Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 09:04:20 -0500
Reply-To: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Greg Potts <greg@POTTSFAMILY.CA>
Subject: Re: Electronic points -waste of time/money?
In-Reply-To: <C1CD8916.2EE7%npoole@telus.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
Hi Nathan,
I don't think it's the ignition. Ignition failure usually occurs at
high RPMs or under load. Idle is the last place that bad ignition
will affect. I don't think it's the distributor either, as If the
timing was staying advanced it would leave the engine running faster,
not slower.
I've had a pertronix with carbs and FI and had ZERO issues with it
over 40,000 miles and 4 years of use.
Your decel valve sounds like a possible culprit here, or possibly the
vacuum line between it and the fuel pressure regulator.
There are some great resources at www.ratwell.com for dealing with
aircooled FI. Here's my favorite:
http://www.ratwell.com/mirror/potts/index.html
A vacuum gauge and a fuel pressure gauge are indispensable when
troubleshooting FI. You can't do it properly without them, unless
you're gonna just throw parts at it until the problem goes away. That
gets expensive REALLY FAST, and often leads into the recurring
carburetor debate.
Happy Trails,
Greg Potts
1973/74/77/79 Westfakia "Bob The Tomato
www.pottsfamily.ca
On 12-Jan-07, at 9:51 PM, Nathaniel Poole wrote:
> It starts great and sits there idling at 950 rpm. I rev it, when I
> let off
> the gas it slows down and stalls. If I hit the gas again before it
> reaches
> idle speed it'll rev again. If I let it go lower than that, the
> rpms keep
> dropping until it dies. I start it up again and it idles like it
> should. I
> installed the ignition without yanking the dizzy.
>
>
> On 1/12/07 6:38 PM, "Mike S" <mikes@flatsurface.com> wrote:
>
>> At 08:52 PM 1/12/2007, Nathaniel Poole wrote...
>>> Anyone else have a problem with electronic points in the type 4
>>> motor?
>>> My
>>> '80 Vanagon was running great before I installed these points from
>>> Hot-Spark.com, and now it's doing something weird - it idles
>>> fine, and
>>> revs
>>> fine, but won't idle after revving, just stalls.
>>
>> They work fine for me.
>>
>> When does it "idle fine?" Only after starting, after it's sit (set?
>> sat?) a while? If it stalls out, what happens if you start it
>> immediately without revving?
>>
>> Sounds like the advance mechanism isn't returning properly after
>> revving. Put a timing light on it, rev it by hand, and watch to
>> see if
>> it returns to the proper idle timing. Did you leave enough wire
>> inside
>> the distributor so the plate can move unrestricted? Do you have the
>> spring under the distributor which pushes the drive gear down?
>>
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