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