Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:04:45 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: engine dying while driving
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTikO3FGf9OinXL1+Hy4-D6xMTgSkgOWNYxY8+O2y@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Joy,
This sounds like the classic Vanagon Syndrome. My own van has started
this nonsense. Turn off the engine momentarily and back on clears it for
the moment. It will come back in time, however. Turning off and bacck on
resets the ECU. The fix requires the tantalum capacitor be installed in
the AFM. Ken Wilford at Vanagain.com has a plug-in fix for this I
believe. Contact him for the details.
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 3/27/2011 1:20 PM, Joy Hecht wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Got a vanagon question! No halogen lights, no list-language discussions,
> all vanagon.
>
> My engine has an intermittent problem. It dies while driving. This has
> been going on for a long time (since last fall). I'm driving along, usually
> (but not always) at fairly slow speed, in suburban or urban driving, and it
> just loses power and then dies. Sometimes it loses power and if I give it
> more gas, it bucks and coughs (choose your metaphor) - then sometimes it
> dies, and other times it feels like something catches in the cough and it
> starts going normally again. Feels very weird.
>
> This seems to happen more predictably when I'm going up a hill, or have to
> shift in urban driving. I find myself giving it more gas than I usually
> would, and sometimes revving it too high without shifting, in order to
> prevent it from dying. I'm afraid to go up really steep hills (MANY of them
> in St. John's) because I'm sure it will die, and I'll not be able to start
> it up again, and then I'll be in a mess, having to back down the hill
> coasting or something. (This happened once. Not good.)
>
> When it dies, I put flashers on, stop, turn the engine off, turn it back on,
> and almost always it starts up and behaves properly. Canadians are
> extremely polite, but I imagine the people behind me do NOT appreciate
> this.
>
> One time it did this at high speed, on the Trans-Canada. Not good. It
> wouldn't start up again - well, it did, but then died promptly again. I
> pulled over, called a tow truck, waited around ten minutes. Then started it
> and it worked fine. I ended up canceling the tow truck, and didn't have any
> more problems for the next 400 or so miles till I got home.
>
> I've taken it to two mechanics. Before heading back to Newfoundland in
> February, I took it to my mechanic in NJ. He said "sounds like an
> electrical problem." He searched all over, and drove it around, but it
> didn't act up when he was driving it, and he said he couldn't figure out the
> problem unless he saw it happen. Incidentally, this same mechanic replaced
> my alternator in October, and I drove a fair bit (up to Westies at Watkins
> and back, maybe 600 miles) after that with no problems at all. So
> presumably it's not the alternator.
>
> So reluctantly I headed back to Newfoundland (long drive, cold weather, not
> nice to take risks with uppity van when Propex heater still doesn't work
> despite Karl M's repairing it last fall). I got as far as those 400 miles
> from St. John's, that's when it died on the Trans-Canada. After it started
> up again, I drove into Corner Brook, which wasn't far, and took it to a
> mechanic who someone had told me was the best one around for electrical
> work. They said that it sounded electrical, but if they didn't see it
> happen, they couldn't fix it. He said something electrical is getting hot
> and then cutting out. When I stop it cools down, and then it works okay
> again. If this were the case, though, why would I have been able to drive
> from New Jersey to Newfoundland, all highway driving, without it happening
> once? And why does it more reliably happen when driving around town, often
> when I've just started and the engine is cold?
>
> So anyway, I came back to St. John's, got here fine. Now I only drive to do
> errands around town that I can't do on foot. Pretty much every time I
> drive, it cuts out at least once, then starts up again and seems okay. It
> seems to happen often when going slowly - pulling out of a parking space,
> starting up at a traffic light, parallel parking.
>
> My neighbor (not a car mechanic) said he thinks it's a clutch problem,
> because I told him it happens more when I have to shift.
>
> What do you all think? BTW, Matilda (my van) is an '89 with a manual
> transmission.
>
> I'm planning to take her to my mechanic here (who specializes in old VWs),
> but I'm almost waiting until I'm sure she'll act up when he drives it, since
> I suppose he'll also say that if he doesn't see it happen, he can't figure
> out what's wrong. So I figured I'd ask for your opinions.
>
> What do you think?
>
>
>
>
>
> Joy
>
>
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