Date:         Tue, 12 Apr 94 10:00:23 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         eager_r@apollo.hp.com (Richard Eager)
Subject:      Re: Hunting idle on Vanagons

> 
> 
> Hi 1985 Westphalia here.
> 
> Mine did that for six months or more. Paid up and down the yin yang for 
> their experimental opinions. Finally got it fixed after doing th ECU and 
> ten other things. I've got so many receipts now I can't remember which 
> one seemed to fix it. I'll try and look it up over next few days.
> 
> James
> 
Hi Folks,

My first post to this group.

Jim & Dean, I'm also very interrested in everyone's responses as I have a 1987 that
exhibits a similar behavior (I think).  That is, when idling, the RPMs will increase 
to about 2000 momentarily and then return to proper idle speed.  Really weird the
first time this happened while driving ...

I also have another problem that may or may not be related.  When I first start the
car in the morning, the idle is very rough and slow (about 500 or so).  Sometimes
the engine will stall, so I press the accelerator slightly to keep the speed up.
After a minute or two of running, it's OK.  If it stalls though, it is very hard to
restart and sometimes there is the faint smell of gas.  Is it possible
for it to be choked too much ??!!

> 
> 
> On Mon, 11 Apr 1994, Dean Paul Karpowicz wrote:
> 
> > Well, I bought the wiring harness fix last Friday (thought that it couldn't
> > hurt) and the Van now has gone into it's idle hunt mode twice on Saturday,
> > and twice today (Monday).  It seems to be running better (when it runs
> > right).
> > 
> > I'm seriously thinking about selling this thing to some unsuspecting soul
> > and getting something different (Golf ///?)
> > 
> > What's going on???  Do I really have no other option than to replace the ECU
> > ($$$).

Yea, BIG bucks here.  Doesn't the dealer have the diagnostic equipment to determine
if the ECU is bad or not?
  
> > 
	[snipped out all this stuff I can't afford to do]
> > 
> > 
> > The other thing that I was wondering about was those stupid throttle
> > switches... I tested them a while back, and at that time they were fine.  I
> > priced them also... they were like $50 each!!! For a f*ckin microswitch.  I
> > just assumed that if they were that expensive and they seemed o.k. I would
> > leave them alone.  But now I am thinking along those routs again.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Bottom line....   Has anyone else had this problem and FIXED it??????
> > 
> > If so what did you do????  Or did the dealer just finally get it right for
> > you by replacing the whole wiring harness?!?

If the dealer suggested to me a complete harness replacement I'd think it very
unprofessional and would interpret it as their way of telling me they can't 
fix it.

> > 
> > Thanks.  I'm slightly annoyed!!!
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

DickE
--
Richard Eager
ASD Learning Products		 Email: eager_r@apollo.hp.com 
Hewlett-Packard Company		 Phone: (508) 436-4321  
300 Apollo Drive		 FAX: (508) 436-5106
Chelmsford, MA 01824