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Date:         Fri, 8 May 1998 20:37:37 -0700
Reply-To:     Old Volks Home <jim@OLDVOLKSHOME.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Old Volks Home <jim@OLDVOLKSHOME.COM>
Subject:      Re: 84 Ignition Weirdness
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Off White wrote: My "new" 84 is doing several odd things, not necessarily related. It idles fine, but just a slight touch on the pedal causes the idle speed to fluctuate, up and down. Sounds like this might be the Surge thing recently mentioned on the list, mostly a pain when trying to creep though a parking lot or up my driveway. ------------------------ The reason for the flucuation when slightly depressing the pedal is that the idle microswitch on the Throttle Body is switching off "Idle Mode". This is a normal function and it sounds like it's working properly. Without this micro-switch telling the ECU to go to "Idle Mode" your idle would flucuate all of the time (mine did until I replaced it). ******************************* Second item: it sometimes "blinks" as in stops running, then does again, elapsed time less than a second. It feels like an electrical thing, since it just stops, then goes, no backfire or change in engine sound. It will do it just idling or at speed. ------------------------ A little harder to track down, but in my case it was the two relays in the little black box just on top of the coil, the left relay specifically, which is called the "Current Control Relay". The right relay controls the fuel pump. Contacts were dirty and I replaced the relays anyway, they were so old (the cover of the Current Control Relay came off when I tried to remove it - pretty grungy inside of that). Another possibility is the Idle Stabilizer Control Box on the left firewall. Mine tested OK at first, then intermittently - I eventually replaced it as well. ******************************* The Third Item, possibly related to the second, is that it completely stops running, as if the ignition were turned off, until I turn the key off and then back on, then it runs again. I tried poking at the ignition switch, and got all excited thinking I'd induced it to happen, then realized I was actually just turning the key off. Hah. Anyhow, we're about to boldly cast off to New York and back in this car, so if I could chase away some of this behavior (the Van's, not mine) it would be good. ------------------------------------ Again, this could be related to the Idle Stabilizer Box or the relays previously described. Again I had the same problem and when replacing the relays (and cleaning contacts) and the Idle Stabilizer, I haven't had problems 1, 2, 3 since.

There is a slim possibility that the Ignition Module on the Left Firewall OR the Hall Sender in the distrobutor is acting up. Tests to my 84 Westy were inconclusive, so I decided to replace those as well. I put an average of 40K miles on my Westy a year and dependability is what I need, so I decided to replace the whole ball of wax.

Hope this helps Jim Thompson 84 Westy 2.1 * 62 Beetle * 90 Fox Wagon Check out our latest cool stuff at: http://www.oldvolkshome.com ------------------------------------------- Check out the Odd, Weird, One of a Kind Items For Sale On the "OddBall Page" http://www.oldvolkshome.com/oddball.html ------------------------------------------- Our Website is totally redesigned for ease of your use. Now in "Frames" or "No Frames" format: Frames - http://www.oldvolkshome.com/frames.html No Frames - http://www.oldvolkshome.com/homenf.html ------------------------------------------- Sherwood Automotive * The Old Volks Home PO Box 176 * Palo Cedro, CA 96073-0176 (530) 221-5342 (Voice or Fax) jim@oldvolkshome.com jim96003@c-zone.net


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