Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 20:28:50 -0500
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: Misbehaving in the wet
In-Reply-To: <004801c3f9a1$7a56b6e0$0c994618@guava>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Could be a bad O2 sensor and/or the wiring to it. The shielded cable may
be cracked allowing water to short out the inner wire to the grounded
shield. Also, make the O2 sensor has the heat shield/deflector in place.
This is needed to keep road spray and air flow from cooling it off. Road
spray can also contaminate the sensor.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Brad Estergaard
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 7:11 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Misbehaving in the wet
Hey List,
Long post ahead....
For a long time now I have had a problem with my 88 Syncro whenever I
have to drive in the rain/wet snow. Everything runs fine while the
engine is cold (5-10min) but as soon as things warm up a bit (and are
wet) I get severe 'bucking', loss of power with no response to the gas
pedal, and eventual stalling. The symptoms disappear immediately if I
shut down and restart (or a rolling re-start :) ) but will come back
within a few minutes.
I do have the updated harness so it should not be the standard vanagon
syndrome problem.
If I disconnect the O2 sensor either before I start-up or after the
symptoms develop this "usually" buys me some more time before the
symptoms return (like 10-15 minutes instead of 1-2min) and in some cases
when the 02 is disconnected I can 'ride-out' the problem as the symptoms
will sometimes suddenly disapear again after a minute or 2 if I can keep
the van running for that minute or two (have to be travelling on the
highway with enough speed to have that kind of time).
I have also noticed that the ISCU gets wet and on casual checks I don't
think my ISV is hummimg or vibrating but from what I understand these
components only matter while the engine is cold or if you have AC.
In case it is related, my idle is erratic as well. In the dry it is
usually around 1000 but can surge to 2000 when warmed up. When its wet
and I have the O2 disconnected it generally stays at 2000 when warm.
The last weird thing is that while this is happening, and until the van
has had time to dry out (overnight), my non-working gas guage starts to
sort of work...it will move up to 1/4 tank. When I fire up the van and
the gas guage stays below empty I know that I will not have a problem.
I cannot make sense of wiring diagrams but I am wondering if and where
the fuel guage and the FI system might share a wire?
Any ideas? I'm at the point where it seems I should just replace all
the FI components (everything is original btw and almost at 250,000kms)
but is there an order i should follow...like O2 then Temp2 then Throttle
switch etc. Or could it be an electrical problem of a differnt kind
(grounds) or something totally different? Any hints or theories
appreciated.
regards,
Brad
