Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2014 10:33:11 -1000
Reply-To: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: My O2 sensor is NOT faulty..(follow-up to a question
yesterday)
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuKieG+gU=QjrWD=PKWvYzS=frGOCYRiU00Gj=DiJsu1HA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
in your first paragraph ...
I could get the impression that the poster here is under the impression
that 02 sensor is related to 'operating temp' ( I assume that means
coolant temperature ).
'taint so.
They're not related ..you could have NO oxygen sensor and the cooling
system, thermostat, radiator , temp gauge etc would not know.
There is a very very simple test with a digital voltmeter that can tell
you for sure if the 02 sensor and it's function with the ecu is working
or not ...
assuming wiring and coax from 02 sensor to ECU is good, like not open
and not shorted,
you will see either a working sensor, a lazy one, or a dead one.
when I see gauge weirdness the first thing that pops to my mind is...
Voltage Stabize on the back of the instruments. ...little thing
...mounted with one screw I believe.
oh..it's super easy for the main instrument cluster..called T14 in the
diagrams in Bentley , to make poor connection.
Eyeball the foil there where T14 plugs on ..
they can get torn up there or just make poor contact. I use a lot of
Electrical Contact Cleaner on these old rigs.
the way I clean BF off stuff is first spay with fine mist of water ( BF
is totally soluble in water )
then disperse that water moisture with WD-40 ..which works like a charm
, and is what WD-40 was developed for
in the first place.
BF isn't going 'dry up' by itself very well I don't think.
I'm curious if the poster owns a basic digital volt meter.
On 9/9/2014 4:22 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> I asked about O2 sensor function and the braided protective sleeve that
> surrounds the emerging wires from the top of most O2 sensors. I was
> thinking mine was not functioning, due to me seeing an overly-cool
> operating temperature on my coolant gauge and my fuel gauge indication my
> tank was emptying quicker than it should..
>
> The General Wisdom is when a problem occurs one should go the the last
> area of work done and re-check to make sure you haven't messed something
> up. I recently replaced my clutch slave and my o2 sensor is right
> adjacent to where I was working...so I wrongly assumed I'd perhaps messed
> up the O2 sensor connections or that a rather messy oil leak from my axle
> seal was causing me problems in that area.
> I spent (wasted) a few hours checking all those connections and messing
> around under there and couldn't find a thing wrong..
>
> So I thought, 'well, maybe cleaning up everything and checking it all,
> that fixed something I didn't see' Then I went windsurfing with my van,
> and "Voila!...The temperature gauge was behaving as normal again and the
> gas gauge showed I'd miraculously gained about 1/3 tank of gas.....As I
> drove along through the Columbia Gorge to my favorite windsurf spot...it
> dawned on me that I'd probably gotten some brake fluid from my messy
> bleeding job, while working on the slave cylinder, got some brake fluid
> onto my instrument foil or something...and it had dried up overnight.
>
> I did go back to the area of last work to recheck but I just didn't go
> back to ALL the places where I was... I have been fooled before by the
> Vanagon instruments, This time two gauges, seemingly unrelated in the
> functions they indicate, were giving me numbers that were *close* to what I
> expected, but not quite *right*.
>
> So anyhow, if you spill brake fluid during a brake bleed, you too could
> spend some quality time under the van looking for something when the
> problem may be up on the dash...
>
> Me dumb!
>
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