Date:         Sat, 12 May 2012 21:21:35 -0700
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      No start; no fuel pump, no spark, etc.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

'87 2.1 Auto

So I thought I'd start another thread since my I think my situation has
deviated significantly from Jesse's. Initial post at the bottom.

As the subject line says: No fuel pump, no spark, no start. The pump runs
when jumped at the relay; both relays click when key is switched. Power at
the coil (terminal 15). Hall sender wires show 11v on the outer two wires.
I haven't done the other test (looking for pulse from center wire to outer
wires) because all I have is a 12v test light and a multimeter. I don't
know if the meter will detect the pulse. Do I really need an LED tester or
can I use the 12v test light (I was told I could use it on another related
ignition test, fwiw) I was going to try the meter but it's damn dark even
with a light to go poking down to that connector and my leads don't fit.
I'll try it in the morning. Why they decided to hide that connector down
there is beyond me. Can I test that in hand, or do I have to crank the
engine to do it?

Turning the dizzy by hand with the key in the run position does not create
any spark, injector click, relay buzz or whatever. I tried another dizzy
with the same (non) result. This is where I'm hanging up a bit. The spare
dizzy was taken off of an overheated motor some years ago. In other words,
it was working when the guy shut it down, and it should be good. Now I know
it might have deteriorated over the years and so on but it doesn't seem all
that likely. I've checked various grounds and wires and what have you and
haven't found anything obvious yet.

My basic question(s) is/are: What else, other than broken wires, could look
like a bad Hall sender? It looks like the green and red/black wires go
straight to the ECU, and the brown/ground is shared with the "throttle
valve switch" (is that what we call the TPS in these parts? The little
switch under the throttle body?), the Temp II sensor and the "Air Flow
Sensor Potentiometer" (the AFM?). That wire grounds to the #6 terminal on
the ECU? (97.105 in my Bentley) Does it ground anywhere else that would
matter? Is the "distributor ground" tied directly into that?

Testing the outer wires on the connector and getting 11v should tell me
that the ground and the #8 terminal on the ECU are functioning, right? So,
if the Hall pulse test works but I'm still SOL, then is it definitely the
Hall sender? Or is there some other syndrome that can mimic a bad Hall
sender? I just want to make sure before I order a $150 part.

Thanks

--
Cya,
Robert

'87 & '86 2.1/Auto GLs

Here we go again. Van had been running normally for a while after fixing
(?) my no-spark issue. Then (much later) it began to have little
hesitations; a very brief, but seemingly complete loss of power while
driving. It never killed the engine- sometimes it didn't happen at all,
sometimes it happened a lot.This kept up over several tanks of gas. It
usually only happened after the first mile of driving if it was cold, but
once or twice happened almost immediately after taking off. We couldn't
work out a consistent pattern. If anything it seemed to happen the most
when driving on a north/south road. Go figure.

I ran it with and without the O2 sensor, no change. I checked a bunch (but
not all) of the wires and grounds. Nothing obvious jumped out. Eventually
it tapered off and just quit doing it; neither of us has noticed it for
more than ten days. This is my only daily driver at the moment so it's hard
to get any decent block of time to troubleshoot.
Well I have all the time I can find now 'cause it stopped running again. My
wife drove my daughter to school at oh-dark-thirty for a field trip; the
van ran absolutely normally. When she got back in it to come home, it
cranked but wouldn't start. When I got to the van I looked it over for the
usual suspects; I didn't see anything obvious so I tried to start it. I
immediately noticed the lack of 'buzz' from the fuel pump. No vibration at
all when the key is turned to first position or when cranking. Put the
meter on it and got no voltage, so we dragged it home.

I pulled the pump and put 12v to it. It spun up, no unusual noises or other
noticeable issues. I ran it in reverse for a few seconds just for GP, all
seemed well so I put it back in. On having my wife crank the van there was
no voltage again with the key in first position, but I got 10.~ volts when
cranking (I now think this was an erroneous reading- pilot error). However
the pump didn't feel like it was running and of course the van didn't
start.