Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:07:47 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: engine dying while driving
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Try to say...
when it looses power...
while van is in gear and still moving..
does the tach keep reading engine rpm ..
or does it just drop to zero.
one of those ...either one ..but clearly one or the other..
The logic is ..
if engine is turning due to van moving and in gear...
but loosing power and tach drops to zero ........that points to igntion
crapping out.
if tach still reads rpm ..
while loosing speed in gear ..
that implies that the igntion is working and it's some other problem causing
the power loss.
so next time it does it, don't do anything ..
leave it in gear ...try to keep it moving .
don't shift, ..don't coast..
just keep it gear while she's loosing 'go' .
and look at the tach ..
and report what you see.
it would be just like you were going down a big hill in gear ..
tach and speedo showing a reading ..
and you turned off the key enough to kill the igntion..
the engine will still be turning over due to being driven by the van and
being in gear..
but the tach will drop to zero since it's driven by the ignition.
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joy Hecht" <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 6:42 PM
Subject: Re: engine dying while driving
> Okay, so I watched the tach. I was in the city, driving slowly (25 mph?),
> had driven maybe two miles since starting. Slowed way down (maybe
> stopped)
> to merge at a yield, when I picked up to go forward it died. The tach was
> perhaps at 2000 rpm, in 2nd gear, when it started dying, it went down to
> 1000. I turned the engine off before it was completely dead (someone
> suggested that, can't remember who), it hovered at 1000 (I didn't sit
> around
> with it off, there were cars behind me), I turned it on and it worked
> fine.
> Got me to my destination (only a couple of miles further).
>
> On the way home, I was in 3rd, started down a long hill & put it in
> neutral. At the bottom of the hill, turning (but not stopping), I put it
> back in gear (2nd) and it died. Turned it off and back on and it worked
> fine the rest of the way home.
>
> Does this tell you more about what's going on?
>
> Re having problems restarting - that happened twice back in NJ last
> November. One time it coughed and sputtered a couple of times, and then
> worked. The other time I drove around fifty feet out of my friends'
> driveway and it died at the corner. There it seemed to be totally dead,
> then after ten minutes or so it started up again. (I had called a tow
> truck, then canceled it.) And the time it happened at 70 mph on the
> highway
> a month ago, I sat for 10 minutes before it started properly. Other than
> that, starting hasn't been be a problem.
>
> I haven't had any reason to drive on the highway since I've been back.
> Last
> time, I drove 1500 miles on the highway before it acted up, so I'm not
> keen
> to take the van out on the highway just to see what happens. Could be a
> long trip...
>
>
>
> Joy
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 12:28 AM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> You earlier said that starting again can be a problem after the stall.
>> THAT
>> has nothing to do with true vanagon syndrome. Restarting fixes true v.s.,
>> at
>> least for a short time. That doesn't mean the v.s. pigtail won't help you
>> though.
>>
>> Watch your tach closely the next time you feel the problem. Tell us what
>> you see.
>>
>> Mark
>>
>>
>> Joy Hecht wrote:
>>
>>> Other opinions? If the problem occurs often in urban driving, do you
>>> all
>>> agree that it probably isn't vanagon syndrome?
>>>
>>>
>>> Joy
>>>
>>>
>>>
| 
