Date: Thu, 12 Jan 95 10:45:16 PST
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Lee Wood" <Lee.Wood@forsythe.stanford.edu>
Subject: Electrical Ground Connections / Temperature Sender; '81 Vanagon
"Dan Houg" <fairwind@northernnet.com> wrote:
>Subject: cleaning up that ratty idle
>
Mike P. wrote asking us for help in getting the rats out of his
engine:
>
>Here's my fix that worked on my '85, I'd posted this earlier but I
>didn't keep a copy and I'm don' feel up to an archive search this
>early in the am.
>
>1. Clean all engine grounds, ie the main one on the left side of the
>block but check others.
A couple of weekends ago, I spent an hour under the engine lid on my '81 camper
with a can of spray contact cleaner, pliers and a screwdriver trying to find and
clean all the electrical contacts and grounds. I couldn't find the grounds for
the fuel management computer system, though. The only thing that might have
been it was two (white) wires running from the wiring harness to a nut
underneath the #3 intake manifold tube.
I couldn't get at it the connection, so I left it alone for now. Can some kind
soul out there enlighten me? Was that the ground connection? If not, where
should I look for these ground wires on an '81 vanagon? Are there some on the
underside of the engine, too?
On a related note, I replaced the temperature sender on #3 cylinder head that
sends info to the computer. It tested out as defective when I used the VOM test
procedure in Haynes. When I took it out, despite liberal use of penetrating
oil, it took almost all the threads out of the cylinder head with it. (That's
one thing I really hate about aluminum heads!) I used a thinner washer when I
reinstalled the new one, so I picked up about another turn worth of depth into
the head, but I didn't dare really tighten it much beyond finger-tight.
Can anyone offer an informed opinion about the effectiveness of the sender with
the reduced surface contact with the head? I'm not really worried, but should I
be? Could I have handled the replacement in a more effective manner once the
damage was done? The only alternative I can think of is to pull the engine and
put a heli-coil in the head. Right now I have that on the list of things to do
when the engine eventually needs rebuilding.
I had reservations at Yosemite this weekend, but I'm bagging it. ANOTHER storm
is on the way in with ETA of Friday night or Saturday morning. Rats!
Lee
To: VANAGON@LENTI.MED.UMN.EDU