Date:         Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:01:16 -0800
Reply-To:     Rob <becida@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rob <becida@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: troubleshooting intermittency
Comments: To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@Q.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <BLU0-SMTP997C653E347D9B03EC6C95A6660@phx.gbl>
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At  1/17/2010 08:25 PM, Karl Wolz wrote:
>My intermittent no-start turned out to be a loose ground wire from the ICU.
>Stuff banging against it under the back seat must have taken their toll.
>
>Karl Wolz

Years ago I had a bus that would from time to time just quit. It had
a carb and the first time in trying to get it to go I drained the
carb bowl into a little can, found some crap in it and the bus
started and ran fine. The next time that happened I drained the bowl,
it looked clean but the bus ran again.
The next time it just died I was messing with the carb drain bolt and
I heard something, a little 'pop', maybe a 'snap'. I investigated and
found a wire going to the coil had some electrical tape on it. Inside
the tape the wire had been twisted together, "had been" is the key here.

The tape kept it together enough to keep the bus running fine most of
the time but a bounce or a bump might break the connection. My
messing with the carb bowl moved the wire around and reestablished
the connection. It would stop, I'd mess with it and it by the
carb/wire and it would run. Blind luck that the draining the carb
fixed it the first time.
That was an education in troubleshooting...



Rob
becida@comcast.net