Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 11:39:50 -0400
Reply-To: "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject: Re: Radio interferance and Intermittant Power Loss
In-Reply-To: <3D9C6535.97B74557@highspeedplus.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Didn't see the original post, but those two symptoms together are a 90%
surety of a bad HT wire in the ignition. Replace your wires, and your
cap/rotor and I can (almost) guarantee this problem will vanish.
Bringing your ideas to life,
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Mark Keller
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 11:42 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Radio interferance and Intermittant Power Loss
Steve,
To my way of thinking the issue of intermittent power loss comes from
several sources of possibility as your efforts to solve it point out. I
have concluded that what ever the trigger is, the logic loop seem to be,
false or contaminated signal to the ECU, then the ECU tries
unsuccessfully to recover, and then loss of power.
I focus on the uniqueness of the vanagon to help with difficult problem
solving. For example the Vanagon OEM spark plug wires are actually
copper strand wire, and I suspect generate a great deal of radio noise
which can contaminate a signal to the ECU if the shielding is failing.
Wire core spark plug wires are unique, not unheard of, but rare in a
passenger vehicle. In this case of loss of power, the archives and
service bulletin often deal with good grounds and electronic buffers to
alleviated the loss of power syndrome.
So, the basic prescription is to make sure all grounds and wire routes
and wire shielding are excellent condition. In working for a busy
automotive repair shop, I routinely encountered one or two bad spark
plug wires, we just replaced the bad wire, not a complete set, unless
the shielding was obviously y near death. I also routinely encountered
wire looms that zip tied spark plug wires in bundles, cinched tight to
metal grounds and etc. If you wire loom needs attention, now is a good
time to straighten out the routing and fastening of wires. Pick up a
generic spark plug wire loom set, plastic thingys that hold 1, 2, or
more spark plug wires apart. Attach the plastic thingy As a general
rule of thumb vacuum hose, ac hose, and wire harness are good points for
attaching. Ensure that the Spark plug wire only contacts the loom, or a
rubber hose as it winds it' way from the distributor to the spark plug.
You may have to slightly rotate the plug or distributor end so that the
cable avoids contact with a metal or electrical wire. This is tedious
but worth the effort.
According to intermittent loss of power service bulletin, An additional
ground strap, NAPA 18" & $4, is to be attached to the AFM and the engine
block. Concurrently, you can purchased a new set of wires, mainly for
the shielding, for $$$. Alternatively, NAPA sells Belden brand copper
strand spark plug wire by the foot, cheap. The OEM Spark plug wire
terminals were available at the dealer my last plug wire rebuilt 2 yrs
ago, and cheap too. Just make sure that you get the correct terminal for
the spark plug boot. There's more, but just search the archives under my
name for the complete test and rebuild of spark plug wires.
Sincerely,
Mark Keller
91 Carat
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