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Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon
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blauvelt
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Joined: August 30, 2016
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Location: Houston
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 1:39 pm    Post subject: Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon Reply with quote

Good Day,

Typing this on behalf of my father, who still refuses to have internet access, cell phones, or a debit card. He has lived in San Diego his whole life and has had Bug's since he was 15.

That being said, the source of discontent is a 1982 Vanagon (SoCal smog airhead) that he loves dearly, but is at his wits end with it dying on him, at 66 years old he really doesn't need to be pushing his vanagon down the freeway. Below is a summary of the pertinent repair work to date, any help in figuring out what it's ailment is will be most appreciated.

For clarification, I am more inclined towards british contrivances, but can translate krautspeak as needed.

Prior to 248k miles:

Full top end overhaul at ~175k miles: barrels, pistons, heads, valves, all injectors.

~248k miles: replaced muffler & o2 sensor (bosch US prod.) tested o2 sensor w/mulitmeter after installation; appeared to cycle normally.

~250k miles: progressive loss of high end power, repeated cutting out at freeway speeds.

~251k miles: Burnt valve, replaced head (diagnose as o2 sensor failure to lean at full speed). Shop that did work closed immediately after. (Randy's VW in OB). After 1 week of operations, vehicle started acting up w/ poor performance at speed and cold starting issues.

As the vanagon would not run worth a $@#! he took it to a new shop, where the below was performed:

1. overhauled fuel system
a. Dropped and cleaned gas tank
b. replaced vapor and fuel lines as far as fuel pump
c. new fuel filler neck
d. new fuel filters
e. tested fuel rail pressure and fuel pump delivery - did not test return valve

2. Replaced vacuum advance and retard on distributer - had been returned with retard side blocked out due to partial failure (new incorrect unit installed w/only vacuum advance not vacuum advance and retard).

3. Rebuilt old distributer - upper shaft bearing failure (used parts)

4. Replaced hall control unit & idle stabilizer (new parts w/correct part numbers)

5. Replaced head temp sensor (failed) new unit has wrong warm up spec, required custom heat sink.

6. Replaced ignition switch - car ran progressively worse through out cold start/ warm up very difficult: repeatedly died and would not restart for 10 to 20 minutes (tested: no spark)

~253k miles: car fails completely. No spark: sent ECU for rebuild and was returned as non-repairable. No T&I report included.

1. Purchased used ECU, dead unit. Returned.

2. Purchased used ECU: ran for 5 days...
Having not been home for almost 2 years, I was home the day we picked it from the shop. Car started and idled nicely during warm up. Drove to the shell station, filled up with gas and proceeded to the freeway. At medium shift points there was a notable lack of power. On the fwy the engine would randomly miss and run roughly. Drove the car for around town for the rest of the day. I went to start it at around the 24 hours mark and it died during warm up (about 2 minutes) just f@*%ing died and will not start since then.


So the above details the situation. At this time the car still has its original wiring loom, but basically everything else has been replaced.

Thoughts? Good place for NOS ecu's? I am flying to Germany at the end of the month...

Does anyone have a shop in San Diego they would recommend?
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Ahwahnee
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Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2016 2:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon Reply with quote

blauvelt wrote:
...I went to start it at around the 24 hours mark and it died during warm up (about 2 minutes) just f@*%ing died and will not start since then... Thoughts?


I know next to nothing about Air Cooled - but in a no-start situation the first thing I try to figure out is whether I have ignition (spark at the plugs) and fuel (spray at the injectors).

Finding one or the other missing will halve the problem and you can work backward from there.
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weswsimpson
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Joined: September 29, 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:10 am    Post subject: Re: Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon Reply with quote

i know some people assume that hydraulic lifters don't need to be adjusted... but i had a heck of a time getting my 80 running well until I pulled the old lifters and replaced them. They must be bled correctly or even new ones won't work right (ask me how I know!) A hydraulic lifter engine that sits a lot will likely run rough at start up, as the oil drains out of the lifters, and if you get an air locked lifter, might not run well ever, until you bleed the lifter. This might not explain why you can't start it now, but might explain a lot of your other issues...

I fear that a lot of work has been done to your van and unless you or your father have the ability to go through the previous work and check it yourself, your father is going to continue to dump money down the drain.

With these 30+ vehicles the mindset should be that your father's enjoyment should come from trouble shooting and fixing his van himself. If he doesn't enjoy this aspect of owning a vw and doesn't like writing checks to someone else to potentially not fix the problems then maybe it's time to sell it on.
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djkeev
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Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32432
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 6:11 am    Post subject: Re: Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon Reply with quote

First, your Dad is a stubborn man short changing himself of much information.

My Mom embraced the internet and smart phones until her death a few months ago at 96.

My Entire family, 60's and 70's are all modern communication savvy.

He's just making himself old early.......

Anyway.....

#1
Why was it taken to the mechanic?
What was the symptom?
It seems that The shop certainly applied a "shot gun" approach to repairs.

Dave
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a1fa
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:14 am    Post subject: Re: Help! The long list of things that have been fixed...'82 Vanagon Reply with quote

blauvelt . for what is worth, Colin from http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com is in Southern California at the moment. He is the L-Jetronic whisperer. I would get on the board, and get him to meet your father for half the day, and get him sorted out. He has helped a lot of people getting their air cooled vans running right.
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