Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:13:30 -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: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
Darn Quick
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=response
hi......
thanks for reading my stuff Jack..
it's a very important part..
you have one on your Westy.
if it doesn't work..
she no go.
It's an electronic circuit tht amplifies the tiny current produced by the
Hall Sender in the distrbutor in to a 'full-on' primary circuit voltage
...........for the primary circuit of the coil.
the coil of course is a transformer..
The primary windings are 12 volts-ish ..
the secondary ......due to many windings in the coil is in the 20K volts
range or even much more....that's the voltage that comes out of the center
of the coil ......goes into the distrubtor cap.......and rotor distributes
it to the right cylinder in turn.
< btw...there are roughly 36,551 1.9 waterboxer vanagons in service in
North American ..
and not one of them has the felt pad under the distributor rotor serived
with some fine oil...
the oil in that felt pad provides lube to the centrifugal advance mechasm
in the bottom of the distirbutor.
Even on fancy expensinve whole new rebuilt engine installations....I have
yet to see a tech that knows to lube that service item. >
the hot shot electronics geeks can explain it more accurately of course. -
the function of the Igniter.
Forward of your coil......and down a bit., on the left side there.
you'll see the Idle Stabizer small plastic box, if it's there.
just forward of that is the Igniter..
small black thing ...with one plug on it .........with about 6 wires or so.
Most of the wires go to the distributor.
one white wire there ..
goes to the ecu ..
and it is through that one white wire that the ECU knows that the engine and
distrbutor are turning ..
and how fast...and that's used in calculating the injector hold-open time in
milliseconds..
along with other inputs.
you should have a known-good spare igniter.
it's rare for them to go out. I always carry a spare. One time I swapped on
out away from home....and ..that white wire got pushed back out of place
inside the plug , when I plugged the plug onto the new igniter ..took a
while to find that one. Wouldn't run of course with that white wire out of
place.
scott
www.turbovans.com
I have had a spate of bad Idle Stabizers lately though.
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
Darn Quick
> "Igniter if it's not inside the ecu."
>
> What the dickens is an igniter?
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> Sent from my kitchen.
>
> On 08/29/2011 07:34 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>> I agree not necessary to carry a spare throttle body.
>> the worst that is likely to happen is an idle problem ..
>>
>> 'anything that can prevent you from moving' is what I go by.
>>
>> Starter is heavy ........and with manual trans you can always push or tow
>> start if you have to, so I never carry a spare starter, usually anyway.
>>
>> yes on the water pump unless it's pretty new.
>>
>> absolutely on the ecu ..
>> they are generally quite good ...
>> I can think of 3 that were genuinely bad in the last 2 or 3 years...among
>> maybe 70 EFI vanagons.
>> One was just a couple of months ago.
>> I seriously carry a known-good spare ECU ..
>> if that thing takes a dump on ya.....you ain't goin' nowhere.
>>
>> mandatory I'd say.
>> Temp Sensor II for sure.
>> distributor for sure.
>> Igniter if it's not inside the ecu.
>> a spare good plug wire or two ..
>> left over tune up parts that are still good.
>> oxygen sensor ..
>> real like scenario....
>> I just had a hose blow out ...spewing coolant all over the engine.
>> That lead to a so-so used distributor cap crapping out ..
>> and a didn't-look-bad-at-all oxygen sensor crapping out as well. ..
>> though you can always keep moving with the 02 connected if you need to.
>> Not
>> as smooth, burns more gas....but still runs all right.
>> Air intake boot ..if I have one of those ...I carry that.
>> and a box of misc hoses, hose junctions, and hose clamps.
>>
>> Scott
>> www.turbovans.com
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "neil n" <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 5:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: Minimum spares kit. Was: Alternator Brushes Wore Out Pretty
>> Darn Quick
>>
>>
>> I had a real tendency to carry way too many spares.
>>
>> Here's a before and after of paring down:
>>
>> https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/MiscVanagonWestyPics#5387387355555099026
>>
>>
>> Like I really didn't need the extra throttle body. ;) I still
>> tend to carry too much stuff, but there are times when I add something
>> to my rig or fiddle with things. Nice to have the extra stuff for
>> that. If I had an SO and/or kids, I wouldn't have time for that kind
>> of thing while on the road!
>>
>> What one carries depends on the engine too. In terms of a minimum, I
>> carry spares for parts that when failed, would cause a no start
>> situation:
>>
>> Ones shared with WBX:
>>
>> starter (this one could be debatable but it would depend on the
>> situation)
>> ign. switch
>> Distributor, cap/rotor, tension lead to/from coil.
>> fuel pump
>> alt/water pump belt
>> coil
>> wires/tape/various connectors etc.
>> gasket material
>>
>> I suspect I really should carry a water pump and ECU too. There's
>> probably things I've forgotten
>>
>>
>>
>> Neil.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Poppie Jagersand
>> <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I also ask: How many spares should one really carry? Wife drives Toyota
>>> with no clue what to do if it stops... So do 99% of others whether they
>>> drive a car or RV.
>>>
>>> I used to have spares and tools filling the whole storage under the
>>> bench,
>>> but with a growing family there's need for the wife and kid's stuff too!
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Neil n
>>
>> 65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp
>>
>> '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>>
>> Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:
>>
>> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines
>>
|