Date:         Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:09:59 -0700
Reply-To:     Geo & Kathleen Hahn <ahwahnee@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Geo & Kathleen Hahn <ahwahnee@CYBERTRAILS.COM>
Subject:      Vanagon Syndrome, et al
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Just a thanks to the list -- I'm an infrequent participant but often benefit from the archives.  Finally did the fix for the hesitation/bucking/intermittent syndrome.  I used the Harald & Nancy solution...

http://www.geocities.com/harald_nancy/intermitt._syndrome.htm

...but modified it a bit to accommodate my lack of soldering experience (not much room to work inside the AFM -- could see myself melting the housing).

Made the terminal 4 connection on the connector rather than the terminal:

http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Terminal4.JPG

Then did terminal 2 after #4 was connected.

http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Terminal2.JPG

Wellsir it still runs.  We've got a long trip planned so somewhere in Nebraska I'll decide if it helped.

BTW, this is where I got the capacitor... 3 for a buck.  Now I've got 2 extras -- I'll carry them with me in case I meet any of you on the road.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G1732

Before reconnecting the battery I took a couple of photos of the 8 gauge wire lead I use on the + battery post to simplify attaching a battery charger.  The end is tinned to prevent fraying, a bit of fuel line is used as a cap and the battery lid is notched slightly so it doesn't want to cut into the cable.

http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Battery1.JPG
http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Battery2.JPG
http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Battery3.JPG
http://www.cybertrails.com/~ahwahnee/Battery4.JPG

That seat belt belt bolt makes a handy ground connection when charging here.

Of course these photos are for entertainment only, use your own judgment as to whether any of this would be good for you.

This upcoming trip will be our first long one since getting a GoWesty engine in early 2006.  We've made several 2000 mile trips w/o any problems but now we've got time to go a bit farther.

Geo H