Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:25:37 -0500
Reply-To: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject: Now Preventative Maintenance, Was Do U carry spare ECU?
In-Reply-To: <h2lc280e73b1004150435rd6ae7f39k9fdc2a21a30ac6ca@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
I quit carrying spares & tool boxes over 20 years ago. I decided I was "failing to plan" which kind of leads to "planning to fail". Also, I've driven 40,000 - 55,000 miles / year over the past 10 years, most of these miles in what most would consider old cars.
But there is a method to my madness. I'm under the hood of my cars a lot. Also, I replace items like belts & hoses & coolant & brake fluid & brakes & tires when they should be serviced & not when they fail. Then I throw these old parts out because there is no need for a old spare unless the one on the car is about to fail. One other note - I replace belts & hoses with good parts, not the cheap $4.00 crap from the local McParts store. I believe the last Gates Green Stripe V belt I bought cost me $18.00 from NAPA while the "supposedly" identical belt from a AutoZone or Advance Auto was in the $4.00 range.
I also inspect starters & alternators for brush wear. And I replace or inspect other accessory items when they rack up a lot of miles.
Your ECU should fall in the inspect & repair / replace category. Disassemble it once every 10K miles & look at the wear stripe in the carbon. If it shows a lot of wear then relocate the wiper BEFORE IT FAILS. If you don't do this then you are "planning to fail" like I used to do 20 something years ago.
This may seem like a lot of work but it's nice to know that you can take off on a long trip in a vehicle with over 200,000 miles on the clock and expect to arrive at the other end with no issues.
I have had some road failures but with one exception, none were in my control and none could be fixed on the side of the road or with tools you'd usually carry in a toolbox. The one exception was the alternator in my 87 Mercedes 300SDL - the rear bearing locked up. But even with the alternator, I borrowed what I needed from AutoZone.
Tom
www.kegkits.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of miguel pacheco
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 6:35 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Do U carry spare ECU?
Jim, in your case, not having the part you needed in a breakdown, would make a far more interesting story. How about it, has it ever happened?
You carry far more than I do, and I'm pretty well equipped.
Miguel
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
- Thomas A. Edison
On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 10:50 PM, Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yep,spare 1.9 ECU (replaced one in Adrian, TX off I-40 several years
> ago coming back from Tennessee to SoCal). Plus a starter (replaced
> that on another trip coming back from Tennessee to So Cal 3 yrs ago),
> extra hard start relay (I have this installed on all VWs I own and
> just installed one on the 914 this past week), alternator (replaced
> that about 8 years ago in Turlock, CA rest stop - only 20 minutes to
> do that!), two distributors, water pump, thermostat w/O-Ring, AFM,
> master cylinder, accel cable, ignition switch (electrical part [gave
> one away to Bev at the Buses By The Bridge event a few years ago] and
> lock cylinder), fuel pump (replaced that a couple of years ago on a
> Jerome Jamboree trip in the middle of 100+ degree heat under an
> overpass on I-10 about 25 miles east of Quartzsite, AZ), fuel filters
> (both square pre filter and cannister filter), fuel pressure
> regulator, plugs, rotor, cap, hall unit, ICU, spark plug wire set,
> coolant ECU sensor, assorted FI connectors w/pigtails, 2 meters of 7mm
> fuel hose, 2 meters of 3.5mm vacuum hose, lotsa appropriate clamps,
> assorted bulbs and the list goes on and on and on....Very well
> equipped multi-drawer toolbox that would normally go on top of a roll-away - this sits on the floor directly behind the passenger seat.
> When you live full time in a Westy, it's best to be prepared for most
> contingencies :)
> --
> Jim Thompson
> 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
> 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
> 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
> 75 914 1.8 (No Name Yet)
> Full Timing Since March 1999
> oldvolkshome@gmail.com
> http://www.oldvolkshome.com
> ***********************************
> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 8:59 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> On the weekend I got a call from a friend in trouble. He had taken a
>> group of people up to a lake a few hours from home, using his 86 GL
>> as a tour bus. Everything went fine and they made it up the 5000'
>> mountain without incident. After unloading he decided to park in a
>> different spot and the van would crank fine but not start.
>>
>> He checked for spark, ouch, a-ok.
>> He had just filled the tank, so plenty of gas, bad fuel?
>> He bought some starting fluid and it fired right up and quickly died,
>> each time he sprayed.
>> He changed the fuel filter, no joy.
>> He pulled the injectors from one side, no fuel spraying, aha!
>> Pulled a fuel line loose, cranked, plenty of flow.
>> He pinched the return line shut, cranked, still no spray at injectors
>> but a new leak showed in a line.
>> Bought an injector noid light, noid light blinked during cranking.
>> I told him the ECU could still be at fault, strong enough injector
>> pulses to blink the noid light but not enough juice to fire the injectors?
>> AAA called, made it home by tow truck.
>> Installed his spare ECU from his Westy under bench storage, fired right up!
>>
>> Mark
>>
>
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