Date:         Fri, 8 Jan 1999 13:47:01 -0800
Reply-To:     Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@EMERALD.OZ.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Arbaugh <sneakers@EMERALD.OZ.NET>
Subject:      Re: Engine cutting out

James:

My '85 westy was afflicted with the intermittent cutout for some time. I would
be driving along and bang, no engine, no tach wiggle, nothing. It would not
cough or hesitate first, just an instant dead motor. Wait for five or
ten minutes, starts right up. Because of the age and mileage of the vehicle, I
went ahead and replaced many of the obvious things: fuel pump, fuel pump
relays, ignition and idle modules, and a few other things I don't remember now.
I checked other things like air flow meter and such, all fine. After all that,
it still stalled, and actually seemed to be getting worse. I knew by then it
was an electrical problem, fuel and air were fine. I hoped it wasn't the ECU,
had just replaced that not too long ago.

My mechanic told me how to isolate the pickup in the distributor to see if that
was bad (I'm sure there's a better technical description for this, but it's
Friday and I'm not that clear on the names for these gizmos). Anyhow, I (we)
determined that indeed the Hall sensor(?) in the distributor was bad: there was
no spark when cranking the motor, but when you disconnected the 3 wires from
the hall sender on the distributor, turn the key on, and touch the middle wire
to ground, you should get a spark. This told us all the other ignition pieces
were ok, but the Hall sensor in the distributor was bad. If you don't get a
spark that way, you have a bad idle module or ignition module (and you can
bypass the idle module easily to isolate that). I replaced the hall sensor (and
cleaned all the junk from the bottom of the distributor and lubed it all up at
the same time), and it's been great ever since.

Sorry I can't be clearer right now: I just had lunch, and a full belly always
gives me brain fade. I can give greater details later if you wish.

steve
'85 westy
kent, wa


>------------------------------
>
>Date:    Fri, 8 Jan 1999 08:03:09 -0600
>From:    James morris <<a
href=mailto:Jbmorris@RA.ROCKWELL.COM>Jbmorris@RA.ROCKWELL.COM</a>>
>Subject: Engine cutting out
>
>I have an 87 GL that recently has been cutting out while on the road.  It
>appears to be fuel related almost like a fuel filter or somehing. However,
>my buddy mentioned the air sensor?
>
>What happens is:  example: Driving home this new years holiday it started
>cutting out real bad so I pulled over and turned it off, let it sit for a
>minute or two started it back up and did not have another problem all the
>way home (until another trip) and the cycle continued. I guess what is
>really bothering me is the intermittancy of this problem as well as a
>almost "RESET" when I turn it off and then back on.
>
>What do you guys think ? Any ideas ?
>Any response would be appreciated.
>
>james b morris - Lewisville, TX
>69   Bug
>73   Bus
>87 Vanagon
>
>------------------------------
>