Date: Sat, 23 Dec 2017 09:43:44 -0800
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: occasional hesitation
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuJSN2kBV-9RaxnMRn4GSbd2uA84xeuSuSCYMVd2hP4LwQ@mail.gmail.com>
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Have you tracked your gas consumption? If the O2 sensor is inoperative,
the default is full rich
Your mileage will drop. You may also foul plugs in full rich mode.
(assuming you are Digifant)
Gotta love vanagons on winter trips.... Last winter...Tonapah, NV
blizzard..mine quit. Not fun unpacking everything in the blasting sleet
to get at the motor and my under bench spare parts stash... I changed the
Temp 2 sensor and somehow got it going..It turned out to be overflow gas
tank vents gone...That wouldn't have been fun in Tonapah blizzard, but I
managed to make it to the desert before I got to do that dirty job.
Driving on verglas with a 2wd van and the motor cutting out... Crossing
Death Valley with an intermittent miss... going through Los Angeles that
way... not that relaxing....
But...it being a Vanagon, at least I could fix it with some good advice
from the List...
This winter I'm in my old GM AWD..The Vanagon is now "too good to risk"
like that... crap, I really love the old 84.
On Dec 23, 2017 9:11 AM, dhanson928@gmail.com wrote:
I'll suggest a couple of bottles of dry gas, given your location and you
came from the Northwest, right?
On Dec 23, 2017 7:51 AM, "Mark McCulley" <mark.mcculley@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm on a road trip for the holidays, van has been mostly running great but
have had some intermittent episodes of roughness. Hoping to get some
suggestions for things to check when I have an opportunity to do so (single
digit temps today, no garage).
First noticed on beginning of second day, leaving Missoula, just a couple
of hesitations when accelerating onto the freeway on ramp. As long as I was
holding at steady cruising speed, very smooth but if I let off the gas for
any reason, then hesitations again.
I noticed the symptons again yesterday, this time mostly when changing
gears. Smells like it's running rich. Come to think of it I noticed that
smell a few weeks before setting out, well before I noticed any
hesitations.
- The first thing that comes to mind is the TPS, I will check that.
- I have spare distributor cap and rotor, but only 7K miles on the existing
ones.
- I have spare plugs, 17K on the existing ones (W7DTC). Inspected 7K miles
ago and looked fine.
- I have the AFM harness with the capacitor, and have never had a problem
with Vanagon syndrome.
It probably wouldn't hurt to change all those ignition components...
I'm a bit suspicious of the O2 sensor, is there an easy way to confirm if
it's OK? What does ECU do when O2 sensor is unplugged?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
-Mark
87 syncro Westy
