Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 17:18:01 -0500
Reply-To: Rick Koller <rkoller@HELIX.NIH.GOV>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Rick Koller <rkoller@HELIX.NIH.GOV>
Subject: Re: Having an annoying problem with my 85 strategy. First
occurred about 3 months ago while traveling on the B
In-Reply-To: <s64ffe35.027@prv-mail25.provo.novell.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At 10:07 AM 11/16/98 -0700, Curtis Graham wrote:
>Having an annoying problem with my 85 GL. First occurred about 3 months
ago while traveling on the highway. The engine died (tach dropped to zero),
but kicked back in within a couple seconds. Didn't happen again for about a
month, but when it did the cut out lasted a few more seconds. Over the
last couple of months the frequency of this phenomenon has increased to
where I can expect it to occur at least once or more a day. It seems
totally random. It happens while idling at a stop light, at freeway speeds,
or driving in town. The engine runs very well before and after this
happens. Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>Curtis Graham
>Orem Utah
>
>
Curtis et al,
I know this scenario ad nauseum, unfortunately the potential causes of
these symptons are numerous. I will summarize my particular experience.
First off, the List was a tremendous help to me, as I had basically zero
experience with trouble-shooting auto electric problems and received
numerous potential strategys toward a solution.
I thought initially that the problem was the ecu, the symptoms matched
what others with faulty ecu's had experienced. I took out the ecu and gave
it a good rap and the van started immediately, this confirmed my suspicions
or so I thought. So I decided to buy a new brain, which I did and
subsequently installed. A day later the van stops and won't restart again,
exactly the same problem. The vanagods had decided to toy with me! The
problem was obviously more subtle.
Next I cleaned all the grounds and wire connectors I could find, and some
of them were somewhat corroded. Then I checked for continuity in as many
wires in the engine compartment I could and found no breaks. I changed the
distributor cap, rotor and plug wires. I ordered the Digitool from Darrell
Boehler and installed it so I could watch the various ecu and sensor
functions while driving. And still the van would unexpectedly stop dead.
The vanagods were indeed testing my worthiness to be a "vanagon-companion".
I was beginning to be on a first name basis with the local AAA tow-truck
infrastructure!
The Digitool put me on the right trail finally. The battery readout (this
is not the battery's actual voltage, but rather what the ecu is seeing
downstream from various relays and other electrical components on the
engine) on the Digitool was reading between 12.3 and 12.9 with a lot of
bouncing up and down between these values. On another nonafflicted vanagon
the reading was a stable 13.4 or 5 which I thought should be the correct
values. I started to suspect some kind of alternator glitch, maybe the
brushes/voltage regulator was going bad and so I replaced that, it made no
difference. I decided to change the ignition switch's electrical component
as a deterent, fellow listees had recently ranted about the fickleness of
this particular item. While preparing to do this I was back at the engine
compartment just looking and listening while it was running and I finally
saw the source of all my frustrations. A large guage red wire on the back
of the alternator that is connected to a stud coming from inside the
alternator was loose in its circular connector. There's a cluster of 3
large guage wires connected on top of each other on this stud and as
appeared to be solidly in place. When I disconnected this one wire the van
died and behaved exactly like it would during one of the intermittent
stops, I believe that this wire led up to the ignition switch. I replaced
the bad connector and now the voltage reading on the Digitool is a stable
13.4 or 5. I believe the vanagods finally spared me more trials and
tribulations....for now ;+). By the way the stud on the back of the
alternator was worn about one third through by these 3 connectors, it will
break someday! Hope this experience helps.
Rick Koller
'90 syncro westie
'91 electrically correct auto box
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