Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2023 20:16:48 -0400
Reply-To: Eric Caron <ericcaron96@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Eric Caron <ericcaron96@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Drivability fix , I think
In-Reply-To: <C57EBE19-C7D5-48BD-9445-D225ED460985@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Hey,
Great info here.
But, AB emails also now going to my junk. They used to come to my inbox. Also using a Mac.
Eric
> On Apr 22, 2023, at 6:43 PM, OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>
> I would agree that the SeatBelt Bolt should be a quite adequate Body Ground,,,
>
> But I’m kind prone to overkill anymore when it comes to Vanagon Grounds especially
>
> when the ECU is involved & so I would run an additional ground to Eng & I also add a
>
> ground directly from the O2Snsr to Eng’ &/or body ~
>
> ORR~DeanB
>
> Also AB, Your EMs to GerryV' are not showing up in My Mac Mail ~
>
>
>
>> On 22 Apr , 2023, at 2:47 PM, Alistair Bell <ragnarhairybreeks@icloud.com> wrote:
>>
>> Been just testing tgat ground Probing with meter and tugging wire. Seems solid.
>>
>> I think the seat belt bolt close by would be adequate. It’s a good body ground .
>>
>> But I’m dithering….
>>
>>> On Apr 22, 2023, at 1:21 PM, OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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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