Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:01:44 -0500
Reply-To: Tom Stone <tstone8359@AOL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Stone <tstone8359@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Progressive rough running - until ignition reset
In-Reply-To: <4D18FB21.3040008@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I experienced this problem consistently enough 6-8 years ago and took the prevailing wisdom of the List at the time to address the problem and have had no recurrences since. We used to live in Illinois and would drive to Colorado several times a year in our '91 Carat. Usually in the middle of Nebraska, the engine would start missing and buck violently, waking everyone in the van up and causing my wife to fear for her life. When I stopped for gas, the problem would clear up for a while and then return after 100 miles or so. I found that by quickly turning off the ignition and turning it back on while on a straight stretch of road, the problem would clear up for a while. So I would finish the trip by cycling the ignition as necessary. At the time, the list wisdom was that Vanagon Syndrome was caused by transient voltages which were somehow induced into the wiring going to the ECU and resulted in the erratic behavior. The "fix" was to install a capacitor in the wiring coming from the AFM. Don't recall the stats on the capacitor or which wires the capacitor bridged, but it worked! No more VS. The van has another 100k miles on it now.
A list member with the e-mail address of HaroldNancy or something similar shared the details of applying the fix that I followed.
A "believer".
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Mon, Dec 27, 2010 3:46 pm
Subject: [VANAGON] Progressive rough running - until ignition reset
Volks,
I have a general Vanagon troubleshooting question - today driving home
from an enjoyable Christmas gathering with all my family, the van
engine started twitching - a little skip at first, then as the miles
rolled it got worse and worse. I was sweating getting home in all that
snow and rain and raw weather we were having, and sure as heck didn't
want to stall out and spend time on the side of the road in that
weather. I managed to make it off I-65 at the southern exit onto Shelby
Co 25 on towards Columbiana. By the time I got to the last hill just
outside town - I was down to about 10 miles an hour, and coasted down
that hill into town to the main stoplight. The plan was to go through
the light on green, and pull over in a BigBox store parking lot. Didn't
get the chance. Light changed, and the engine stalled. I turned off the
wipers, the heater fans, and the head lights, shut off the ignition, and
then hit the switch again. She fired right up, purring like a kitten. No
more trouble......... until well up the road. Same thing over again.
Just a little twitchy at first, then got progressively rough. This time,
while coasting, I turned the switch off, and back on. The engine cleared
it throat, and purred like a kitten. Did it twice more before I got home.
So - what could be happening that turning the ignition off and back on,
results in temporary clearing the problems. At first I thought fuel,
then some king of ignition trouble, then an electrical fault for sure.
Electronics somehow.
Any ideas??
Thanks,
John
--
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
| 
