Date:         1 Dec 1995 11:13:10 U
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Kirk van Druten" <kirk@lansharks.batnet.com>
Subject:      Re: Re-New 'Brain'-88 Westy 

       Reply to:RE>Re:New 'Brain'-88 Westy (long)
Steve Hoge Wrote:
>This suggests that there are at least 2 independent problems with a 
>common symptom, which is that the ECU basically throws up its hands and 
>refuses to deliver fuel to the engine...  (cut) ...Popping the harness adaptor
on your airflow >meter would have been a cheap first try (presumably you didn't
know about that fix).  It >would be nice if there was a way to distinguish these
various problems by the symptoms, >but the symptoms seem to be identical.

The symptoms I saw were very different.  I had already experienced and  the
'harness adaptor' thing before I had the ECU problem.  The symptom I saw before installing
the capacitor harness on the air flow meter was not the same symptom as a bad
(or slowly dying) ECU at all.  I was driving on I-5 and it was hot outside
(100+degrees).  My van burped mabye twice and then slowy lost power altogether. 
When I put the clutch in to downshift and pull over, the engine stalled and the
dashboard lights came on.  Coasted to the side and pulled the engine lid.  No
loose connetions, I had gas and the gauge worked, coulda been fuel pump but in
about 5 mintues the van fired up and ran great for another 200+ miles.  Go
figure.  I was talking to a VW service guy in San Diego and just happened to
mention the symptom. He pulls out the tech bulitin you mentioned which seemed to
match the symptoms I had experienced exactly.  While I thought it sucked that VW
had the balls to charge $100 for a capacitor harness (and would have been happy
to charge me LABOR to install it!), I was heading to Baja and wasn't willing to
take any chances.  I've driven at least 20k miles with the harness (and the same
fuel pump) and haven't experienced the same thing again.

As for the concept of a parts 'library'-I like it-great idea!  I do however
think that shelling out any more $$ for FI parts would hurt a bit.  Maybe I
could be the first honorary member?

Kirk out
88 Westy (with sparkling new FI parts!)