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Date:         Sat, 26 Jan 2008 10:24:49 -0600
Reply-To:     Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Max Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject:      Urban Legend RE: NO starting when cold and Gasahol?(long)
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Troops: In my never ending quest to figure out why my vanagon won't start below 10 F., I'm wondering if it maybe isn't something really simple(like some others have experienced here on the list lately). When we moved back to Iowa, I was pretty much told that I didn't need to use HEET or ISO HEET gas dryer agents in my fuel tank during the winter because I use the 10% ethanol gas at the pump. Is this fact, fiction, or urban legend?

The reason I say this is during our most recent cold snap where the highs for the day were in or near zero, Putting the vanagon in the garage overnight was the only way it would start in the morning. Last week, with the high for the day being 7 F, it started with some coaxing in the workplace parking lot, but I drive home 10 minutes and 3 1/2 hours later sitting in the driveway and temps below 0 it wouldn't even cough or show any signs of spark or combustion.. With it sitting out on the street overnight and the sun shinning on it and a high of 4 F the following day(and the battery recovered from the previous drain), I was able to get it started, but it would not run at all in the lower RPM range(kinda like a cloggged cat makes the motor "run"). Watching the tach, it was hard to tell if it was dropping off due to ignition issues or just starving for fuel, but it took a while before it would run under a load. The fuel pressure gauge was showing low 20's once it would run with no load(like 2500rpm+), but once the VW factory temp gauge started to get close to the red light, it would attempt to idle somewhat. The vacuum gauge would read around 13" hg at 900rpm, so this weekend I will take everything off from the intake manifold to the air cleaner and reseal all vacuum lines/connections. That should eliminate that as an issue. Incidentally, the fuel pressure gauge got back to tehe more normal readings of 26-32psi(depending on load) once things warmed up.

The new cat from BD has less than 500 miles on it so I don't think it's clogged, yet anyway since it does idle after warming up.

That leaves me with a sense that the fuel could be freezing due to water despite the 10% ethanol. I went ahead and put some ISOHEET in my tank this fill up yesterday, so we'll see if that helps. Temps will get to the low 40's by Monday and then turn down to single digits again by the middle to end of next week.

Another thought is that maybe my water temp sender or my air temp sender on the Haltech ECU have failed or ar not giving the ECU the correct reading. Upon re-reading the Haltech installation instructions, they say to install the air temp sensor as close to the head as possible. Back in 2001 when I installed this thing, I may have taken the easy route and simply drilled a hole into the plastic air cleaner housing since living in Arkansas we didn't have any of the cold issues we have up here. Since I'm in somewhat uncharted ground here, I was wondering if I moved the air temp sensor to the big air box where all the air heads to the 4 air intake ports. There's a flat spot over by the #3 runner that would support having a sensor installed there, if I thought having the air temp sensor closer to the head like Haltech says to might help the situation. can't imagine the air in the plenum is that much hotter or colder during start up though. I'd be sure to test the sensor to make sure it works before I moved it to make sure that wasn't part of the problem.

The water temp sender is in the same small diameter coolant hose as my VDO aftermarket temp sender(for the top of the dash gauge) so I don't think it's acting up unless it's not getting a proper ground due to the fact that it's not bolted to the engine directly. I figure that since there are two wires running to both the air and coolant temp senders, that one of them has to be a ground of some sort. I may put another ground on it if I have time just to eliminate any possibility of that being an issue.

Anyway, I've got a full 3 day weekend ahead of me before things get cold again.

Thanks for any support or options you may come up with. This Vanagon owner is totally baffled by all this.

DM&FS


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