Date:         Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:58:39 +0000
Reply-To:     Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Vdub Guy <fonman4277@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Low Power And Fuel Injectors

Alright, everyone knows all too well about my injector problems this week! My '84 Vanagon with 2.1 and Digijet injection had run beautifully until I ran it low on gas, very low, and 30 minutes after filling up it started losing power. First thing I noticed was any grade caused me to lose speed and downshift. On level roads it seemed fine-for a while. Then it got so bad I could barely maintain 20 mph. I was close to home, so just kept going. A few days later I found the fuel filter totally clogged and changed it. It seemed to run OK after that, but not quite what it had been before. This was back in April. In June, on the way to Natural Bus in Natural Bridge, Virginia, it ran fine nearly all the way there but would on occasion lose power. Not a dramatic power loss, but just didn't feel quite right again. Lately, however, it was getting really bad. On the highway, I had trouble getting the van up to 55, in fact 55-60 was top speed, and it had a slight shudder to it on acceleration (f
elt pretty much like driving a splitty)  Nearly any grade caused the van to slow dramatically, and steep grades were downright nerve wracking, requiring 2nd gear and maybe 25 mph with the flashers on. Another symptom was the exhaust was getting VERY hot. The heat shield above the exhaust was blistering hot. When I found that, my first thought was that the fuel filter was clogged again. Swapped it out, but the filter looked good, and I had no change in symptoms. That's when I decided to pull the injectors and have them cleaned. This totally restored power. No problem at all maintaining speed up grades. I can easily do 75 mph again. Heat shield over exhaust gets very warm, but not too hot touch, definitely not the skin blistering hot it used to get. I had looked a new injectors, $187.00 each (!), rebuilt injectors, $49.00 each, and then finally just getting them cleaned, $17.00 each. I had them cleaned by WitchHunter Performance, and with cleaned injectors I got a report showing flow
 results before and after-3 of the 4 were seriously clogged. Money well spent and worth it.     Jeff