Date:         Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:22:20 -0800
Reply-To:     Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Keezer <warmerwagen@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: FW: DAYS SUMMARY - UODATED INFO FW: STRANDED in South Florida
              -              NEED TECH HELP
In-Reply-To:  <CE6A13EF131241029F067CEAC6572206@IBMDA3234A2E69>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Hi Mark, 
The only breather hose is from the breather tower to the intake boot. 
Is your o2 sensor still unplugged? Your symptoms do tend to indicate the O2 and /or the AFM.
Make sure all the breather hoses are connected from the boot to the breather tower/ idle stabilizer. 
Make sure the oil filler cap is on tight. 
One more thing, park in a dark place and look at the spark plug wires-if you see electricity dancing along the wires, you have bad spark plug wires. A bad wire(s) is enough to strand you or make driving miserable, that is , lack of p[ower , rough running, poor mpg.. all happened to me before.
Robert
1982 Westfalia ABA inline four.
 
 
Robert
1982 Westfalia

--- On Sun, 1/24/10, Mark Drexler <mdrexler@ZING-NET.CA> wrote:


From: Mark Drexler <mdrexler@ZING-NET.CA>
Subject: FW: DAYS SUMMARY - UODATED INFO FW: STRANDED in South Florida - NEED TECH HELP
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Date: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 4:04 PM


HI folks. Not trying to fill your inbaskets, but you all seem to enjoy the
repartee. First, thanks for all your suggestions. Long day of trying things,
in parking lot of Ramada Inn, with some progress, but ultimately not
successful. While I'd love to fix this myself, may limp to a south florida
garage in the am if I can find one. My own next step would be to test fuel
pressure, maybe a complete drain of the tank, and a new fuel pump? I still
feel like I am fuel starved. I do have a couple of questions though.
Should I have a crankcase breather hose leading to the air cleaner in my 91
GL? I do not seem to.
Given I've been fiddling all day, is there any kind of 'reset' necessary, to

Clean memory or anything like that. I did not touch the ecu.
Todays efforts:
- checked idle stabilizer - humming, re/re control unit to clean contacts
- adjusted throttle position switch to spec  for idle
- new fuel filter - previous one was 3k old, but was installed backwards
when I looked it. Lots of crap came out
- distributor/wires, checked all connections including hall, confirmed spark
- pulled off all engine compartment grounds, cleaned and tightened
- pulled and cleaned contacts on 2 temp sensors
- disconnected o2 sensor
- some other stuff I forget
Current status - starts very rough, sputters, and misses, but I can now get
revs up eventually, and once at operating temp, will idle roughly at 900rpm,
And accelerate roughly to cruising speeds, in other words I am sort of
mobile. Once engine turned off, a restart, even immediately brings the same
sputtering/missing, and eventually smooths out somewhat.
Next steps? THANKS

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Drexler [mailto:mdrexler@zing-net.ca]
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 9:30 AM
To: 'vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM'
Subject: UODATED INFO FW: STRANDED in South Florida - NEED TECH HELP

Hi again. So, I checked a few things.
-idle stabilizer control unit contacts are clean, no moisture
-Idle control stabilizer valve is humming.
-throttle valve switch is NOT working at idle but working at full throttle
-WHEN HARNESS IS REMOVED FROM AIR FLOW SENSOR THE ENGINE IDLES SMOOTHLY.
When the harness is reattached it drops revs 200k, and gets very rough and
stumbles badly when throttle applied.
Does this tell you anything. Can I drive it with the afm unplugged?

Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Mark Drexler
Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 5:31 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: STRANDED in South Florida - NEED TECH HELP

Hi. Help needed. We are stranded at Homestead, Florida, where Hwy 1 heads
into the Keys.

91 GL Westy doesn't want to go any further. Started rough this am, but ran
decent most of day once completely warmed up.

Just completed 1700 trouble free (till now) miles on new fuel injectors,
fuel lines, plug wires, plugs, cap and rotor. Fuel filter has about 2-3k on
it. Checked plugs this am, and they were a brown and dry.

Now  just fueled up, and will start, but spits and burps, and can't get all
cylinders firing on start up. Feels like a lack of fuel delivery to me.
Getting more and more rough on start up last couple of days, actually since
some heavy rains a couple of days ago.



Suggestions on root cause or things I should check please, and does anybody
know any techs around very south florida that I could track down???



THANKS.



Mark & Mary