Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 22:44:14 -0700
Reply-To: Malcolm Holser <mholser@ADOBE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Malcolm Holser <mholser@ADOBE.COM>
Subject: Re: My Digifant Opinion
> > <<Foxes are junk and worthless. stick with Digifant,
> > 89 or newer. It's a very simple fuel injection system and they run smoother
> > than the CIS cars.
>
> Just to throw my 2 cents into the pot, I believe the Digifant is one of
> the Biggest piece of Crap systems ever made. But then again I own a
> vehicle with the Digifant system and I love that van with all my heart,
> when it runs properly. My Digifant computer recently went out on my 86
> Vanagon. VW wants over $700 for the computer and My parts dealer told
> me he would sell it to me at his cost, which was $440. I pmailed
> several people on the list who are parting out vanagons and the general
> response was, "Thats not for sale, I've read about all the problems with
> the Digifant and I don't want to buy one myself."
>
> The problem with the Digifant is that VW tried to intergrade the
> ignition system with the injection system.
Actually, Digifant is a slightly simpler version of the Bosch Motronic
system. VW did not integrate the ignition -- Bosch did and VW took this.
It is an improvement. There is no vacuum advance, no silly electrical
twiddling with the timing at idle through the "idle stabilizer" (although
the name was re-used for the active air-regulation of Digifants). I doubt
that VW wants a whole lot less for the CIS-E computer.
> So if you have a problem
> with one system you often can have a problem with the other. This can
> make things extremely frustrating when you are trying isolate an
> electrical problem. If you think mechanical work is expensive, look
> into the prices for electricl work.
Well, get the Bentley book "Bosch fuel injection" by Probst and do your own
work. Tools cost less than a single tune up (about $200 for a pressure tester
and CO meter)
> This has been proven to be the case
> and therefore the DigifantII was born. The DigifantII is basicly the
> same as the original Digifant, but with the incorporation of the CIS's
> ignition control unit.
Really? Probst says it is the same as Motronic with knock sensors:
"A refined version of Digifant. Along with control improvments, it uses a
knock sensor for more precise timing control." Learnb something about
this stuff before you post to the list. You won't sound so stupid. (Look
whose talking -- boy have I made a few gaffs!)
> This is used to try to separate the ignition and
> fuel systems. I am not a huge fan on the DigifantII but it is better
> than the original Digifant. The Digijet(CIS-E) is the most troublefree
> system.
Digijet has no relationship to CIS-E. Digijet is VW's version of the
Bosch "L-Jetronic" (CIS is "K-Jetronic"). Early versions were very basic,
later versions (most Vanagons up through 1985) had lambda sensors as well.
The DigifantII was never used on Vanagons (probably because it was
difficult to add knock sensors). The ignition is still contained in the
same ECU as the FI.
>
> As for the Fox, I would not be afraid to own one. It is a great
> economical VW...if that is possible, but the Jetta would be my choice
> over the Fox. Anyhow this is just my opinion and goodluck to everyone.
>
> David Hammontree
>
Well, Foxes had both KE-Jetronic (CIS-E) AND DigifantII -- they changed for
the 1991 models. Basically, VW dropped the K-Jetronic (CIS-E) starting in
1988 for most models. I doubt that it makes much difference -- folks seem
to be religious about these, rather than objective. I've had both systems,
and prefer the "Luft" version, but the "Kontinuerlich" versions at least
will kontinue without the electronics, which the "Luft" won't do.
Most Japanese cars seem to use the "Luft" style -- and they are not known
for their low reliability. Arguably the best system is the later LH Motronic
systems, which eliminate both the distributor and mechanical air-flow meter,
but alas were never on Vanagons (unless you do the Subaru-swap...)
Malcolm
