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Date:         Tue, 12 Jul 94 21:41:31 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Randy <thewoz!wort!randy@netcom.com>
Subject:      Fun with the FI (another happy roadtrip story)



If you remember, I was the guy whose bus ('76 FI 2000cc) started  
running on 3 cylinders a few days before I was planning on driving  
450 miles to Charlotte, NC.  Well this time I was planning a beach  
trip (500 miles r/t) and the Bus decided not to start the weekend  
before.  It just died while I was driving around my parking lot, and  
then turned over but wouldn't catch.


(Incidentally, it died while I was in the process of dropping the  
engine from my '71 SB, leaving me with one VW that wouldn't start and  
another VW half taken apart, and no ride to work in the morning...)


Anyhoo I woke up early Saturday morning the day of the trip hoping to  
figure out how to get the damn thing to start so I could go get a sun  
tan.  I pull out the Idiot book and my Haynes manual, my VOM,  
flashlight, drop cloth, and start poring over the engine.  I tried to  
run the tests that Muir suggested but I couldn't find the main relay  
or fuel pump relay.  The fuel pump wasn't where he said it was, the  
wires weren't connected where he said... maybe he wasn't talking  
about the '76es.


Anyhow while trying to figure out how to test the fuel pump, I was  
tracing a wire across the engine compartment and I found a loose  
vacuum hose.  I plug it back in and keep working.  A few minutes  
later, it started!  I couldn't believe it.  All I did was plug in the  
hose.


So, the four times the bus has misbehaved, it has been:


1.	Loose vacuum hose (turned over, wouldn't start)
2.	Loose ECU plug (turned over, wouldn't start)
3.	Loose wire on fuel injector (ran on 3 cylinders)
4.	Loose vacuum hose (turned over, wouldn't start)


Total cost of these repairs?  $0.00.  (well $50.00 if you count the  
stuff I bought unsuccessfully trying to fix #3).


Moral of the story: if your FI acts up, LOOK FOR LOOSE CONNECTIONS  
FIRST.  Do NOT start replacing components willy nilly as I have.   
Just un-plug and re-plug in everything, and clean and/or tighten all  
loose/dirty connections.


The steamed crabs at the campsite were great...




-Randy
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