Date:         Sat, 18 Jan 1997 21:51:26 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jmatchet@iu.net
Subject:      Re: [Fwd: Electriclly FRIED WIRE HARNESS.]help....

Thanks for the data....We cut open the harness and replaced the wire..
We found it to be a power lead (red/whitestripe) that splices into 3
other power leads (way over on the driver side of the harness) that all
get their power from a relay in a box above the coil.  There is voltage
on that line still.
We got the car running...but it misses every now an then 1 or 2
cylinders...its pretty bad...

Well tonite it died totally....I was turning around and all of a sudden
the engine cut out....The starter wouldnot crank...maybe the battery is
to weak and I have a fried altenator.....its charging now and I will
see in the morning....I hope the engine is not seized.....
I mostlikely have other bad electric parts...Would this contribute to
misses on my newly re-gasketed heads....

Almost ready to trade-it in...
John

 rJoel Walker wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 18 Jan 1997 01:39:18 -0500 you said:
> >WHY does the ps unit have wires...is it a sensor?
> >where do these wires lead?
> 
> the wires should be going off to the right rear of the engine area, where
> they go into the idle stabilizer box. when you turn the steering wheel, the
> idle stabilizer speeds up the engine speed to compensate for the effort
> that the engine has to make pumping the power steering fluid. yes, the
> pump is turning all the time, but only when the front steering rack is
> moved "off-center" does the pump cause the engine to slow down. this is
> usually noticeable only when you are moving very slowly or standing still
> (like in a parking lot). you probably noticed it when parallel parking or
> when spinning the steering wheel with the car stationary (and your foot OFF
> the gas pedal): move the wheel and the tachometer/engine speed goes up.
> 
> >Could this be why my engine is hard to stay running and start....The
> >heads were just put back on...it started to run fine...until the engine
> >became rough 50 yards down the road...I found the arcing plug
> >wire..replaced it...and still rough starting/running...now I found the
> >wire to the ps unit...close by to the bad plug wire. I hope I did not
> >fry my  computer chip?
> 
> it would definitely affect the idle stabilizer, i think. you probably have
> not affected the main brain, but the idle stabilizer might be a bit worse
> for the experience. see if the repaired wire fixes the problems. the idle
> stabilizer definitely controls/affects the starting and running.
> good luck.
> joel