Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 04:40:39 +0000
Reply-To: Jim Hildt <jim@CHNWMD.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Hildt <jim@CHNWMD.COM>
Subject: Re: Spark, fuel and air...a no start story.
In-Reply-To: <CAAzKkH_DRtNanC9qPiX2A-6Xz2V_zoDPCwQEtjD+WfzPsD2zaA@mail.gmail.com>
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Holidays and the neighborhood is full of nuts.
Jim
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: T Collins <tonycollin@GMAIL.COM>
Date: 12/13/2015 8:34 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Spark, fuel and air...a no start story.
Hello volks,
In a a recent email I asked about vanagon starter relays because I was
concerned that my starter was acting up and this was the cause for some
electrical issues. I may still get one....;)
Last Saturday I came out to my 85 7 passenger vanagon which would not
start. A winding sound permeated the air. I had heard that sound before.
Like when the ECU or the air fuel meter are disconnected and you know that
one of the three things you need to start the engine is not there.
I checked the battery and it was very low, 9 volts at cranking. Certainly
that was it, the reason for my no start. It did not however explain why a
battery would drain so badly in 5 days of being parked. The battery turned
out to be bad. It was kept overnight for charging, according to the FLAPS,
unable to hold a charge. I got one off their self the next day, that one
was 12.3v "new". So I took it back hoping to get a hotter one as close to
12.6 as possible. The best of the 5 batteries they had there was 12.4 and I
took it home, put it in the vanagon, but with life being what it is; I did
not get to that to almost dusk. Needless to say that did not do the trick.
Fast forward until today, when I got a "real" chance to investigate. I had
fuel at the T, the pump had been priming, no obstructions on the air ways,
I got the battery up to snuff.....Still I thought it had to be electrical.
So I started looking at all my possible electrical connections, replaced
the ground strap between the transmission and chassis, not bad, but it had
seen better days. The fuses checked out. I checked the starter connections,
a little crud at a spade connector which I cleaned. Then I started tracing
the connections to the ECU, and AFM. I got to the coil and all was well
there. I looked at the grounding connectors on the engine block all there,
but I find a loose ground wire with no apparent home, Gee that is strange
where is this wire going to??
As I round the front of the AC I see a sheathing with 4 wires in it, one a
ground. Following those wires lead me to the main harness at the coil and
stabilizer box. The other 3 wires were a red, green and beige, I knew I had
seen that before, but where......Ah the distributor!!!!
That was it, these wires belonged to the distributor, but how in the heck
did they become literally chewed up like this? As I am looking at the dizzy
I see a walnut lodged between the engine and directly below the plug for
the dizzy. SO I have come to the conclusion that a squirrel lost its nuts
in my van and figured that to liberated them it was necessary to chew the
wires around the walnut.
Funny thing is there are no walnuts near our house. A buckeye and sycamore,
but no walnuts all mysteries I guess....
After connecting all the severed wires and buttoning things up the vanagon
fired up and all was well with the world.
Moral of the story always remember what 3 things you need for combustion to
occur and watch out for those nuts.
Thanks,
T.
