Date:         Sun, 22 Jun 1997 04:45:00 -0400 (EDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Oxroad@aol.com
Subject:      FI Vacuum leak 83 Westy?


My newly purchased 83 Westfalia idles rough. The spark plugs, wires, and
ignition distributor cap seem to be OK. It has a rebuilt water-cooled engine
(or actually long-block) with allegedly about 1,000 miles on it (digi-jet FI
). The idle isn't steady and it rocks pretty good when it idles.On the
highway and at higher revs it runs steady with no problems. It has never
back-fired. Although it might smell like it runs a bit rich. There is no
visible smoke. 

There is a slight exhaust manifold leak which I am in the process of
correcting. Since the manifold is attached with only one bolt instead of the
required two, and some other shoddy work, my guess is the engine was
installed by someone not interested in doing the job too well.

The timing seems OK although the rough idle makes it uneven.

I did have a problem today where the engine wouldn't start because a cluster
of brown wires was not correctly grounded to the engine case or head. I
tightened that connection and it started but still idles the same rough way.
(thanks to seeing a post from John Fleming on the list it seems these wires
are related to the fuel injection so I will go back and clean them)

I'm not well versed in fuel ingestion, ah that's fuel injection, but it seems
to me my problem may be a vacuum leak, or several. I'm wondering if the hoses
covered with the braided fabric (approx. 1" diameter) between the air
distributor and the manfolds could be the culprit. The fabric on that hose
looks pretty weathered. When I use a piece of rubber hose as a stethascope I
can hear air or suction at the joints where the hose attaches to the air
distributor. This may be a normal sound, I don't know. It seems to me if
there were a vacuum leak I would hear a whistle. (?)

Also when I disconnect some one of the smaller vacuum lines to the ignition
distributor there is no change in the engine. With my limited knowledge it
seems like disconnecting this line should change things a bit especially if I
don't cover the remaining hole. One vaccum line to the ignition distributor
does step up the engine speed quite a bit at idle.

(I should mention it has an after-market cruise control-- manufacturer
unknown.)

Anyway, can anyone tell me how to check for a leak at the air distributor
where it meets the hose, and if replacing this length of hose is as simple as
it appears or will I need to separate the manifolds from the heads?

TIA
Jeff
83 Westy