TheSamba.com :: View topic - hard start/ rough idle...was running great?????

Sun Nov 30, 2003 8:04 pm

hi everyone, back to pick your brains again. the 78 transporter started acting up testerday. temps here drooped to the high 20's and i only had a 1/4 tank of fuel. got in to drive to work and it would't start without some effort, let the bus idle for several minutes and it seemed to run fine. in my optimistic mind i hoped it was the low fuel and cold temp, filled the tank drove to work. this a.m. leaving work sam e deal, hard start, let it idle for a few, bucking at first when trying to drive. points and plugs just changed around 1000 miles ago, have a new fuel filter to try tommorow. where else should i be looking? this thing has been running great up till now???? oh, still f.i.. thanks in advvance,
dave :cry:

Sun Nov 30, 2003 11:18 pm

How is your fuel quality there in Pennsylvania? Make sure you have good fuel and keep your tank between full and half-full for the winter months to help prevent condensation. A little dry gas and a fresh filter wouldn't hurt. If you do not believe that lousy gas is in any way related, the only thing that may trip up FI when it gets cold all of a sudden, may be your auxillary air regulator being asked to open more than the carbon crud build-up allows. If its range is limited in the cold direction, you would have stalling til warm issues, if it gets stuck in the cold position, you'll have a fast warm idle with possible lean symptoms. The cold start valve should be giving you a couple of seconds of spray when down in the 20* range. You can test it with a simple test light. There are other warm up features you'll have to check, the airbox should have the ambient sensor and the cylinder head sensor will need to be ohm-ed out to make sure they are sending correct signals to the control unit. Start simple then go towards complex.
Colin

Mon Dec 01, 2003 11:36 am

thanks colin, i'm gonna try changing the fuel filter and dumping some dry gas in today. hopefully this will alleviate the problem. i'll get back to you if this is the fix!!thanks for your advice, dave

Wed Dec 03, 2003 11:43 am

update to the sick transporter....
new points, condenser, reset timing which i think was way retarded, temp fix of a vacuum leak running like a champ..albeit rusty champ.thanks justin!! :D

Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:32 pm

Do you have an EGR ?
This is prone to funky air intakes that screw up your engine tuning.
Check the EGR filter and the EGR valve.

Thu Dec 04, 2003 8:01 pm

i beleive the egr is history.
dave