Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2023 14:21:33 -0600
Reply-To: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Drivability fix , I think
In-Reply-To: <CAFdLW6mo5yFpqwY7+ghWc7bde2GtpcF_48a0sL91gYsZE9TNwg@mail.gmail.com>
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IMHO it might very well be a good idea to run a ground wire all the way
from the ECU to Eng Block & Eng Bay Grounds just to be absolutely sure that
the ECU has a Great Circuit to essential data ~
ORR ~ DeanB
> On 22 Apr , 2023, at 1:46 PM, Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Quite long ago, I came across a suggestion to add a ground wire from the
> ECU box to the body (under the bench, right side). I didn't have any
> problem but I did that anyway... so all my vans have that ground wire.
> You may want to try that.
>
> On Sat, Apr 22, 2023 at 12:38 PM Alistair Bell <ragnarhairybreeks@icloud.com>
> wrote:
>
>> It’s a bit of a long story so I’ll trim out a lot of what I did…. Take it
>> as read that I did redo grounds, terminals, check basics, did Bentley.
>> Yadda yadda, you know.
>>
>> And a perhaps related issue that I fixed a few years ago… that was an
>> annoying stumble and jerking, have to floor then pedal to get going… that
>> only occurred on summer trips on logging roads. Never in town, and didn’t
>> happen every trip.
>>
>> Did all the stuff you can imagine to track that down. Wasn’t successful.
>> But it went away after I did two things. Did the capacitor fix in AFM ( was
>> not classic vanagon syndrome but I thought why not) and I reflowed a solder
>> joint on one of the power transistors in the ecu. Did that after van died ,
>> dead, one day. After a fair bit of work I found a bad joint in ecu.
>>
>> That was 4 years ago, the ecu fix.
>>
>> This last winter I started to have occasional bucking again. This time
>> around town. Not quite the same as before. But was getting worse. Only
>> happened after 15 min driving. Also the van felt sluggish all the time.
>> Sluggish pick up from stop. Felt lacking in power at low rpm.
>>
>> Got worse and a week or so ago got so bad I had to pull over. Van idled
>> high, about 1500 , tach bouncing at 3500!
>>
>> Something really wrong. Let the van sit for 20 minutes and I could make it
>> home. Only bucking at the end of that short drive .
>>
>> For some reason I suspected the ecu again. So I pulled and looked. I’m no
>> expert, but I found what looked like an iffy solder point on the board.
>> Reflowed that one, and some others that probably good but thought why not.
>>
>> Ecu back in and van started. Test drive for 30 min and all good.
>> Drivability great. Nice throttle tip in, smooth, no sluggish start, no
>> bucking.
>>
>> Happy guy.
>>
>> Next morning , start and back up in drive to turn, dies. Cranks but no
>> start. Jeeze…..
>>
>> Catches for a sec, dies.
>>
>> Crank crank
>>
>> Finally I reseat the ecu connection and it starts. Idles high agajn and
>> Tach bounces. I swap in spare coil, same .
>>
>> I fiddle with ground wire to ecu, the ecu harness, the connector. Starts,
>> runs great.
>>
>> All this last week it’s run sweetly. Really nice. I mean like a new van.
>>
>> So what’s the deal? I did look carefully at the ecu board where the main
>> connection comes in. I couldn’t see any issue. My ecu ground wire might be
>> the issue. On my van it disappears behind the rear bench side wall and I
>> can’t get at it without pulling the bench. This weekend I will look at the
>> harness side of the connection and see if I see anything. Also I’ll sister
>> a new ground.
>>
>> Obviously I’m not confident about my “ fix “ so far. But I tell ya, the
>> van is running better than I can remember it running. You know that jerking
>> sometimes at low speed , trailing throttle? Ad if you have the tps mis
>> adjusted? I was also getting that on occasion before the fix. Believe me ,
>> I have done lots to try and have my tps working well. Rebuilt throttle
>> body, it’s in great shape, switch good etc. been a bug bear of mine that it
>> seemed to not be working at times. I now think it’s was always fine, it was
>> the ecu.
>>
>> I know there will be comments about this, did you check this or that etc.
>> but please believe me I’ve gone thru a lot of time and part swapping to no
>> avail.
>>
>>
>> Ab
>>
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