Date:         Sun, 19 Sep 1999 07:35:45 +1000
Reply-To:     Dom <dmoon@METZ.UNE.EDU.AU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dom <dmoon@METZ.UNE.EDU.AU>
Subject:      Re: Washing/Starting problem
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Thanks again to another strong response from the list
Everyone contributed something different so I have a wealth of knowledge to draw from and have found all advice tendered, relevant and helpful
Thankyou

Here is a summary of where I'm up to (My whole day really, what the hell !)

1: 48hrs after washing, bright sunny day, 11.00am
Try to start the car, battery low, get a kick from the engine, a really good sign
2: Battery dead so decide the kick is worth rolling her off away from home and trying the hill start.
3: No response so I disconnect all leads, pull the rotor out of the distributor, leave it all across the back on the engine lid to dry in the sun, close her up and walk back up the hill for a coffee and a call to a friend. Its a beautiful day here in Armidale.
4: My friend turns up about half an hour later and we go down and jump the battery.
5: She fires on full throttle with the revs ever so slowly climbing at full throttle for about 1 minute. White smoke whisping out the back. (water in the air intake or hopelessly out of tune/ignition timing?)
6. Turn her round and head back up the hill on heavy throttle in first. (only has good power at med-high rpm)
7. Went round to my friends place to have some lunch, do some gardening and tackle a sheep to put it back over the fence  into next door. ( It was a match saver ). It's now night time
8: She now starts easy, idle's well but extremely rough when the gas is fed in untill she climbs her way out of it. I let her run for about 20mins but no improvement. Might get the hairdryer up there tomorrow.
9: One thing I noticed was that the base of the plastic plug that comes out of the distributor to the hall sender is brittle and has actually snapped but the three wires seem to be connected ok inside. Could this affect the timing??? Something to check later. She sounds like she's running on three at low rpm. If its dampness, why would it clean out at high? Any thoughts about the whispy white smoke?

Dominic :)

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