TheSamba.com :: View topic - 84 1.9 Vanagon shuts off. Cranks right back up? V-Syndrome?

Sat Dec 20, 2014 6:37 am

Hello all,

On my way from NC to DC with my baby momma and I'm having some issues with my van shutting down for no reason. I'll be driving at highway speeds with no problems and out of the blue it's as if I just turned the key off. I push the clutch in, wait a second for the rpm's to go down, and then crank it right back up and everything seems fine. Until it does it again an hour later. And in between these full shutdowns, I will experience random losses of power. Very brief. Almost as if I took my foot off of the gas and then back on as quick as I can. Just a blip. I have a new (rebuilt) AFM. The van had the wiring harness adapter thingy on the AFM when I got it. I've been driving the van for 10,000 miles since I bought it and this problem just started a couple of weeks ago.

Any ideas? Are these the symptoms of vanagon syndrome?

Thanks for any help on this. I am a little nervous that at some point it's going to shut off and NOT crank back up.

Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:08 am

Sounds like the fuel filter getting blocked. Try a new filter. If it turns out there's a bunch of crap in the tank just toss it and get a new one. It's not worth trying to clean it out. BTDT

Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:26 am

A dodgy ignition switch also comes to mind -- both because of the symptoms and because they have a reputation for failure.

Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:50 am

Ahwahnee wrote: A dodgy ignition switch also comes to mind -- both because of the symptoms and because they have a reputation for failure.

+1 Sounds like the switch to me, too. Try fooling with the key while its running and see if the engine cuts out.

Sat Dec 20, 2014 12:45 pm

A 1.9 with Digijet FI doen't get Vanagon Syndrome and doesn't need the added harness, Vanagon Syndrome is a 2.1L Digifant FI problem. I have never seen the harness added to a Digijet AFM, it never crossed my mind that the plugs were the same???

To me it sounds like a bad connection somewhere, maybe in the wiring to the Hall sender as the wire is a very small gauge and overly brittle or maybe a pin terminal has pushed back out of one of the FI plugs. Could be a FI ground issue as well.

Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:58 pm

Thanks for all the feed back. We're a few hours in now after a pit stop at my folks house and I think it may have been either a ground or a bad splice/connection on my temp ii wiring. I did a shitty solder job on my engine grounds a while back and cut all of them + my temp ii wiring this morning. Reconnected with crimps and haven't experienced a shut down since:)

Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:48 pm

If it happens again, make sure the ecu is connection is tight
..

Sun Dec 21, 2014 8:28 am

Will do. I guess I forgot to mention that's one other thing I did in my attempt to relieve this. A buddy suggested I unplug the ecu for a good 15 minutes or so and this would/could/might possibly "reset" something. Not sure of his logic but I figured I would give it a try. Many people suggested the switch being prone to failure. Someone on the vanagon.com list mentioned there being a way to hot wire the van at the coil to get it started. Anyone know how you would do this?

Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:12 am

You could hot wire the + side of the coil which would taken the ignition switch out of the equation at least as far as the coil is concerned. You would not be able to shut the engine off with the key once you did this though, so there is a level of inconvenience and also danger involved in doing so.