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Date:         Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:37:29 -0700
Reply-To:     mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         mark drillock <mdrillock@COX.NET>
Subject:      dead cat kills van
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I made a new friend this week on the Samba. He posted about a vexing problem with his son's recently acquired 87 Wolfsburg. It had just died as he was driving and then would not start. He had it towed home and was trying to get it going. A former VW mechanic friend came over with tools and parts and they tried to fix it to no avail. It would fire a few times on the first attempt and then nothing but a mild pop now and then while cranking. The smell of gas was very strong and the plugs were very wet. Compression check was good and fuel pressure read fine. Injectors sprayed in pulses as expected.

I saw his cry for help on the Samba and let him know I lived near enough to come over and give him a hand. I spoke to him by phone and quickly understood that this might be a challenge. I brought my Digitool and some spare parts and went over a few days ago about 4 miles to the next town where he lived. The readings of everything on the Digitool were fine but no go on running. My timing light showed no problem and a pulled plug wire sparked strongly on the block as he cranked. Nonetheless I pulled my dizzy from the van I drove over in since everything else had been pretty much tried. It made no difference so I went home, as perplexed as he was.

Between me and the other guy who had been there, almost every major part was swapped, plugs, dizzy, ECU, AFM, Temp II, fuel pressure regulator, coil. He even hooked up a gas can to remove bad fuel as a possible cause. He called again last night and said he was thinking of getting 4 new injectors since he did not know what else it could be. I did not think that was a likely cause so I offered him the loan of a set of known good ones I had for a test. Late this afternoon I went over and we plugged in my whole fuel line loop with injectors but it made no difference. With the AFM off he cranked some more and I happened to put my hand over the intake boot. I was surprised how little suction there was, even when I opened the throttle. Then I put my hand over the tailpipe as he cranked some more. Again there was little air flow. Ah Ha!

In spite of his skepticism, he agreed to unbolt the cat and have a look since there was nothing much else to try. Of course the bolts were too rusted and a sawsall was needed to cut them. Once we had a little gap between the J-pipe and cat, he gave the starter a crank. The engine roared to life.

We then loosened the muffler/cat enough to get a look and a pile of busted up remains of the cat innards could be seen inside. He thanked me and I made it home in plenty of time for dinner.

Mark now more suspicious of cats


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