Date:         Mon, 27 Jan 1997 18:25:15 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         bayer@sybase.com (David Bayer)
Subject:      Re: FWD>Help!!! Broken down on a dirt road in Costa Rica!

>| Serious question, dude-man.  Driving down a dirt road, no problemas, going
>| maybe 25 mph, and the car died suddenly, no sputtering, no nothing, just
>| dead.  Still have electrical systems, battery, etc., just absolutely no
>| ignition.
>| 
>| We've had a number of occasions where the car "burps", and stalls for just =
>| a
>| second, like what I remember you describing yours doing.  I've also heard =
>| of
>| someone who's VW used to crap out for 10 minutes, then run fine again for =
>| a
>| month, when it would happen again.  We've been baking in the sun for about =
>| 3
>| hours, waiting for a mechanic to show up, and nothing's improved.

	Tell them to look at the plastic elbow coming out of the distributor.
If it wiggles at all, then take the cap, rotor, and dust cover off and check
if the three wires can contact the distributor body. If they can, the signal
which the ECU uses for timing and rpm is not getting to the ECU (it is
grounding out). Therefore, your ECU doesn't think the engine is turning and
you get no fuel and no spark. The connections will test out ok (at least they
did in my case) because the wires only made contact while the engine was
vibrating... A piece of electrical tape has kept me going for 2000+ miles.

dave