Date:         Tue, 27 May 1997 18:54:05 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         bayer@sybase.com (David Bayer)
Subject:      Re: no start/road trip--finis

>| Could there be something wrong with the "guts" of the distributor?
>| (Luckily I've broken down near internet access. The tow operator thought 
>| it strange to bring me to the library) I'm stil 200 miles from home. I 
>| have Bently with me. And am about to start taking things apart. Any 
>| suggestions.

	I have posted this a few times to the list, a more thorough
description can be found in the archives, but here's a quick run down to check.

	The plastic elbow that comes out of the distributor contains three
wires that send signal to the ECU for when the distributor should be firing.
Without these signals, the ECU does not think the motor is spinning and will
not produce spark nor open the injectors. This elbow has a tendency to crack
where it comes out of the distributor body and allow the three wires to touch
the metal body of the distributor effectively grounding out the before
mentioned signal to the ECU.
	Now this problem is usually complicated that it does not happen
consistently because the initially the wires only touch when the engine is
shaking all around and then it only causes hiccups. As the crack grows, it
happens more often to the point where the motor dies, but after a few minutes,
the plastic cools or the air from the spinning rotor subsides and the elbow
moves just enough for the wires to come out of contact with the distributor
body... Eventually the crack  becomes big enough that the wires are always
in contact with the metal body and no matter how much you crank the engine,
the ECU never gets the signal that the engine is spinning...
	So, remove ap, rotor and dust cover and check if the three wires are
supported above the metal in the notch that the elbow goes thru or if the
plastic is in one piece. If the wires are visibly touching or the plastic is
cracked, remove the distributor (but do not loosen the clamp), and thread a
piece of electrical tape under the wires to separate them from the distributor
body. Pop it back it and see if it helped...

dave