Date:         Thu, 3 Apr 2003 12:11:09 -0500
Reply-To:     "Warner, Jeff (DSIO)" <Jeff.Warner@DLA.MIL>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Warner, Jeff (DSIO)" <Jeff.Warner@DLA.MIL>
Subject:      Is the Pigtail enough? (Vanagon Syndrome)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

Volks Again,

So you may have read about my miracle exhaust/transmission repair while
attempting idle repair.  Here's the rest of the story.

Last Friday Barry is behaving very nicely.  Spent so much time fixing the
exhaust leak that I didn't manage to get any further with the idle problems.
But it's Friday night, the eve of the Central Ohio Westy Winter Gathering
and test drives to the gas station and car wash are finding no problem
whatsoever with the idle.  Rock solid at 950 and no racing after driving at
speed (relative term of course).  So I go ahead and finish prepping for the
trip knowing this bliss cannot last.

Saturday morning, we're off for the gathering.  We're motoring down the
freeway, probably 15 miles into the trip and then all of a sudden I feel the
power drop off.  If I back off for a bit and then push the gas I get a
little bit of oomph, but then it just falls off again.  I've never had a
Vanagon with the syndrome before but I've read a lot about it and it sure
feels like that's what it's doing.  I limp it off the freeway into a
McDonalds.  Keep it running long enough to see that it's running real rich
with black smoke, rough and won't easily rev up.  Shut it off (here I made a
mistake forgetting about how with the Vanagon Syndrome I may have been able
to simply restart it and the problem would be gone), I disconnected the OXS
and restarted and it's fine except it's idling fast.  So I disconnected the
ISV and restarted again and we're fine.  Drove it that way the rest of the
day with absolutely no problems and great performance.

Here's the kicker you probably already anticipated.  Barry already has the
AFM pigtail installed.  Not because it had been exhibiting Vanagon Syndrome
symptoms in the past but because I had an extra one not being used.  I've
had this van for nearly three years and this is the first time this has ever
happened.  The only thing I did before the trip was fix the exhaust leak.

Thoughts?

Jeff Warner
Galloway,  OH
'86 Wolfy Westy "Barry"
VW/Audi stuff mating in the back yard.