Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2023 13:47:54 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <ragnarhairybreeks@ICLOUD.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <ragnarhairybreeks@ICLOUD.COM>
Subject: Re: Drivability fix , I think
In-Reply-To: <09D6B2D8-9DA1-4C94-9067-F27B45174C4E@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
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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