Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 01:47:25 +0000
Reply-To: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject: Re: Starting problem
In-Reply-To: <CAKbau50Wg64kYkzKXmS=Ed2S-UUzPL4-FST38c2dAZnFBg-ytg@mail.gmail.com>
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Excellent work Mark, and congratulations. You painfully progressed through all the likely candidates. Well done! Only other thing I might offer is ScotchBrite pad on every electrical connection, and then a modest coating of Dielectric grease to keep things hunky dory to keep moisture from entering. Including inside the rubber boots on stuff, to keep water moisture away.
Yeah....I have NO experience or knowledge of that Temp Sensor. But via The List, I have heard of these funky situations over and over and over. Simple things messes things up badly. Can easily cause a roadtrip breakdown.
Again....well done...and much thanks for passing on your experience on how to solve. One of the BIG reasons I decided to give up on the 1.9 motor, and convert to the a brand new 2.2 Subie motor and associated electronics and CPU. I am not a skilled mechanic, and I take LONG roadtrips; and a roadside breakdown and accompanying mysteries is more than I want to deal with. Even simple stuff....like a clogged outlet from the fuel tank and the resulting cavitation in fuel pump....and no-go up that steep mountain pass in summer...nah.
Rich
San Diego
On Wednesday, February 12, 2020, 5:11:54 PM PST, Mark McCulley <markmcculley@gmail.com> wrote:
Update. I experienced the no start condition today. I did not attempt to
give it some gas this time so that I could troubleshoot. It was turning
over but not firing on any cylinders. Here's what I did:
- Inspected the distributor cap and rotor, looked fine, no moisture present.
- Made sure the spark plug wires were all all seated firmly.
- Made sure the wire to the coil was seated firmly.
- Disconnected and reconnected the AFM.
- Disconnected and reconnected the distributor connector.
- Disconnected and reconnected all the wires on the coil.
- Disconnected and reconnected the O2 sensor wires.
- Disconnected and reconnected the idle stabilizer.
Still, no cylinders firing.
I next disconnected and reconnected the coolant temp sensor located in the
thermostat housing. The van then started, although it ran a bit roughly for
a bit. Subsequent starts were instantaneous, as they should be.
After noticing that a new connector had been spliced in to the temp sensor
wire, I removed the electrical tape covering the spice connections. Near
the splices, the insulation was cracked and falling off on all 3 wires. One
wire seemed to be down to just a few intact strands. I fixed by cutting out
the splices and bad wire section and re-splicing the 3 wires to the
connector. The van starts as it should now. Hopefully this fixes the
starting problems I've been having.
-Mark
On Tue, Feb 11, 2020 at 4:59 PM Mark McCulley <markmcculley@gmail.com>
wrote:
> 87, 2.1l engine
>
> In the past few days I’ve experienced a starting issue with my vanagon
> where I have to give it some gas to get it to start. Then it idles roughly
> until I pull out of the driveway. This happens about 20% of the time, the
> rest of the time it starts up normally. The problem has only occurred on
> cold starts so far.
>
> Ideas about what to investigate? It has been exceptionally wet here
> (Seattle area) lately, wonder if moisture could be part of the problem. Van
> is parked outside.
>
> Regards,
> Mark
>
> Sent from my iPhone
