Date:         Mon, 4 Jan 1999 18:27:42 -0800
Reply-To:     Björn <bratjen@DIRECT.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Björn <bratjen@DIRECT.CA>
Subject:      Re: Digitool reading and t-shooting (longish)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

At 04:34 PM 04/01/99 -0800, Nathaniel wrote:
>To the wisdom of the masses, a question:
>Fortunately or not, the problem which had been very intermittent (usually
only after several days of sitting) has now become rather regular, now that
I have a Digitool to play with:-)
>After startup, the bus (91 syncro) may idle fine for a bit but then begin
to sputter (lower idle). driving is impossible (no throttle is accepted -
only kills it more) Shut down and restart results in temporary perfect
running (30 sec?)  then more of the same.  After several cycles of restarts
and high revving acceleration (during the short grace period) the problem
vanishes for the rest of the day's driving (at least until recently,  now it
may have fits after every shut off even if for 10 min- IE still warm) 
...
> What's up?
>Nat
>Seattle
>
>
Could be the idle control module behind the righ rear light. It is exposed
to the weather. I am just repairing mine part by part and will post results.
If you buy all the parts in an electronic store it should cost you about
$15-20 plus the soldering time. 

You can just pull it up and disconnect it from the plug. If you take it
apart by carefully taking the black cover off you will see a board sandwich.
Sometimes the bottom connections are corroding and simply need resoldering. 

More in the near future when I have fixed mine completely.

When your acceleration is acting up in the way you describe you have to
bring it briefly past 2600rpm to engage fuel shut off and other functions in
the electronic brain.
Björn Ratjen

Mill Bay, B.C. 

1987 Syncro Est Alia (self camperized)
1995 Passat TD
(1982 Vanagon Diesel)
1979 VW Bus (self- camperized)