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Date:         Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:42:46 -0700
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Heads back on, runs OK and dies
Comments: To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:  <4d1b79350803291325t27f6ba42seae4f0e5f4de0b50@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

That part of the distributor is notorious for intermittent connection - it's delicate.

I

Sure , if you are asking does this fit the symptom of poor idle - the answer is yes.

But that's not a diagnosis and 50 other things could also cause the same symptom.

Scott

-----Original Message----- From: Jim Felder [mailto:jim.felder@gmail.com] Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 1:25 PM To: Scott Daniel - Shazam Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com Subject: Re: Heads back on, runs OK and dies

I just went out and popped the distributor cap off. I discovered that the hall effect sensor (if that's what the plastic thing at the rear is) is cracked loose at its base. Put the distributor back together and started the car and wiggled the set of wires going to the sensor with a pair of insulated pliers. The idle improved, but only somewhat.

Is this a plausible reason for the poor running? I checked it because I was going over every connection disconnected and reconnected for this project.

Jim

On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:

It's a manual transmission. I'm sure the plugs are fine, and it runs fine for a short time, and when it starts dropping idle I only have five or maybe ten seconds before it shuts off.

Jim

On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 2:52 PM, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

Jim, You have to say manual or automatic transmission if you are going to talk about how the throttle cable feels.

There's no way to mix up the injector wires. The ECU fires them as one big injector, all 4 at once. They are not sequential, or even timed. The only thing the ECU does is keep them open so many milliseconds depending on fuel requirements.

Just pull one plug wire at a time to look for obviously not firing cylinders. I'll go over my method on adjusting hydraulic valve lifters if you want. Scott

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jim Felder Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2008 12:39 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Heads back on, runs OK and dies

Got the right head on this morning, hooked everything up and it started right up, at least from the sounds of the initial idle. It is powerless, though, and it feels as though the throttle is connected to the accelerator by a long, soft rubber band, meaning that there is a strong lag behind pressing the accelerator and the rev of the engine.

The engine may (or may not) idle nicely for a while, and then the rpms fall and the engine quits.

I know the spark plugs are going to the right place. Could I have the injectors swapped? Could the new, unprimed lifters be doing it? My experience with setting valves on cars tells me that it couldn't be this far out by making a mistake in the valve timing, or could I be wrong about that?

Thanks,

Jim

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