Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:12:07 -0700
Reply-To: Gregory Smith <gfs@GREGORYFSMITH.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Gregory Smith <gfs@GREGORYFSMITH.COM>
Subject: Re: '88 GL ignition miss, stalling
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<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;"><div>I thought I should post a followup to my problem. </div><div><br></div><div>On March 27th I bought a used ECU from a local yard and installed it. Since then the problem has not recurred. </div><div><br></div><div>I suspect that the bad hall effect sensor wiring (that I discovered during my repair process) overheated and otherwise harmed the ignition part of my ECU. Despite finding and fixing a bad solder joint, the damage appears to have been more extensive.</div><div><br></div><div>While I'm still a little bit nervous about the problem and whether it's really fixed, a month of trouble-free driving suggests that it is fixed. Time will tell.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Gregory Smith</div><div>'88 VW Vanagon GL</div><div>'77 Lancia Scorpion<br></div><div>Olympia, WA<br></div><blockquote id="replyBlockquote" webmail="1" style="border-left: 2px solid blue; margin-left: 8px; padding-left: 8px; font-size:10pt; color:black; font-family:verdana;"><div id="wmQuoteWrapper"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 4:12 PM, Gregory Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gfs@gregoryfsmith.com" target="_blank">gfs@gregoryfsmith.com</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana"><div>Hi fellow listers,</div><div><br></div><div>I've been struggling to fix an intermittent ignition miss on my '88 GL. It started several months ago, came on gradually. At first I could feel it, then I noticed the tach dropping out when it happened. Eventually it would stall and restart, sometimes causing a backfire.</div> <div><br></div><div>Initially I suspected the ignition, so I did a full tune-up parts replacement. Plugs, cap, rotor, wires. Thought it was fixed but it came back in a day or two. I ran the Bentley tests. Eventually I decided that the hall effect sensor was bad, it had a loose socket anyway. I replaced that with one from another distributor and while I was at it replaced the business end of the wire harness as well as the ground wire at that end, they were all corroded and had bad insulation. Also replaced the ignition switch electrical part.<br> </div><div><br></div><div>This seemed to fix it for exactly 2 months. Then it started again. I ordered a new hall sensor and replaced it this past weekend. Ran the Bentley tests again, everything checks out. The problem was gone for 1 day, came back this morning.<br> </div><div><br></div><div>I'm left with the ECU, like possibly cracked solder joints or something like that, or possibly the power wire to the ECU from the alternator. I read about this on the Samba, someone found this wire frayed inside the insulation, under the AFM. I'll check on this today.</div> <div><br></div><div>Another thing that sometimes occurs that may be related, but is not synchronized with this problem is sometimes while driving the seatbelt warning light will come one and go back out (I think it's on a timer).<br> </div><div><br></div><div>Ideas welcome, and thanks.<span class="HOEnZb"></span></div></span></div></blockquote></div></div></div>
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