Date: Sun, 9 May 2010 21:05:53 -0400
Reply-To: TJ Hemrick <x53gunner@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: TJ Hemrick <x53gunner@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: The end of ANOTHER vanagon saga
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For those who still have a razor sharp memory, my 87 Wolfie has had an
ongoing lack of acceleration, excessive fuel usage, stumbling, hard
starting, and general run like @#$& no matter what I did. Seriously, I
replaced the engine with all the electrical stuff that's mounted on it (last
one gave up the ghost anyhow), the fuel tank, the fuel lines, filters,
ignition switch, any and all electronics anywhere else in the engine
compartment (ECU also) and all to no avail. When the replacement engine had
the EXACT same problems as the old one, I knew I was in for a fight. After
months of testing, swapping, retesting, hitting the list up, anger,
frustration, more testing and swapping, it appears that the only thing left
is (Time for some Ferris Bueller): Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Well, in
2010, the small and rarely occupied shop of Space Coast Porsche-Uh, in an
effort to fix the the effects of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great
Vanagon anomaly, passed the... Anyone? Anyone? The Hundred dollar bill? The
TJ work all hours, drop the fuel tank I'm so desperate to find what's wrong
with my Vanagon Act? Which, anyone? Raised or lowered?... raised tempers, in
an effort to collect more revenue for the FLAPS and online vendors. Did it
work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work, and TJ sank deeper
into a Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this. Anyone
know what this is? List? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before? The Lazy
Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that You didn't have time to do
it right the first time but you have time to do it twice. At this point on
the stupidity curve, you will get exactly the same amount of work in less
time as at this point. This is very controversial. Does anyone know what Jim
Akiba @ Bostig calls this? Anyone? Something-d-o-o engine. "Voodoo" engine
systems. Ooooh, I'm saving my pennies....
Anyhow, point is, I thought swapping the engine would be quick and over in
a few days and blew off changing the wiring harness. Of course, how often
does one take a dump (harness that is) so I don't feel that stupid except
for the fact that I spent 2 minutes contemplating it and said, "Nah, forget
about it!' Next to getting married (yeah, I said it!) not swapping out the
wiring harness was one of the stupidest things I ever did. Today, I unhooked
all the connections and ran a spare harness and it ran pretty darn well. Go
figure.... And no, no engine swap would have made a difference with a bad
harness but I'm still saving my pennies. I respect the WBX but I'm over
them. Great van, not so great engine.
Since I swapped dizzies my timing is off a little. Sometimes it's tuff to
crank over and it hesitates from too much advance dialed in so I have to
find the sweet spot as it chokes the minute I drop the pedal.
A HUGE thanks to all on the list and special mention to several who made
both technical and motivational pmails to me. Thanks a million! Thanks Ken
and Michael!
Rant over.
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