TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Nov 07, 2008 2:56 pm

thanks 10cent,

I did that and it save me an AFM. I did all the grounds, put in a new Oxygen sensor. Now it runs very good, idle good BUT...

....but if I park the van for more than 12 hours it runs very bad the first couple minutes. This doesn't happen if I park the van for a week. This happens more severe at high altitude. I think it has one or two leaky fuel injector.. I am thinking about to replace them or get a rebuilt but not which is better...

Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:51 pm

You might want to experiment with CO adjustments.

Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:32 pm

Dogpilot wrote: Easy way to see if it is Vanagon Syndrone is when it starts jumping and hesitating. Push the clutch in an switch off the engine, turn the key until the engine shuts off, not until the steering wheel locks. Leave it off for 10-15 seconds, and then turn it to on and let out the clutch.

Just a quick sidenote: what if its an automatic?

Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:01 pm

Either stop or put it in neutral.

Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:18 pm

I just got my syncro back on the road after a complete front suspension rebuild. While I had the van in the garage (getting it in there is a project in itself) I replaced the dizzy cap, rotor, wires, plugs, air filter and changed the oil. Also reconnected the vent/vacuum line to the bellhousing.

I drove it to the alignment shop the other day, no problems other than a squirrelly drive. But on the way home, it bucked a few times. I got home and went to drive it to work and every time I hit 3400 RPMs it started bucking. Almost like clockwork, 3400 RPMs in any gear and bang.... it started getting worse and worse to the point that I turned around and drove home, keeping it under 3400 rpms.

I'm going to clean all the ground connections mentioned in this thread, and fix my o2 sensor wire, which I know is broken. I'll report back with results.

Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:31 pm

Check out the diz connector and that part of the harness; damages easily.

Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:30 pm

tencent,

thank you!

I looked at that wire and sure enough, the part that connects to the dizzy is not secured to the dizzy housing at all, it is just dangling in there. I didn't spend a lot of time with it, its pouring rain.

I didn't see any way to secure it on there, it looks like part of the rubber grommet pulled out of the dizzy, but I couldn't get it back in.

How should I resolve this?

Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:29 pm

If it were me, I would fix it.

Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:03 pm

Over the past week I confirmed that the bucking happened whenever the van was warm, usually after about 45 minutes, and 3400+ RPMs. Stopping and starting the engine doesn't help. I don't think this qualifies as Vanagon Syndrome.

Today I took out the distributor and did what I could to repair the plastic Hall Sensor connector on the distributor body. It was broken in several places... It looks like someone really pressed the harness on too hard and snapped the whole thing off the distributor. The small Hall Sensor wires may have been grounding on the distributor body. I used some glue and zip ties to hold what's left of the plastic connector in place. This is a temporary fix until I can get a new one. The harness is also missing the wire clip making another possible point of failure.

I was also set on cleaning all the ground connections in the engine bay per the recommendations in this post. When I removed the ground post on the left side of the engine bay the ground strap to the engine case practically disintegrated. I bought a new (but much cheaper version) at my FLAPS. I cleaned all the connectors and used new nuts and bolts everywhere I could.

I think I may have gotten it. I took a long test drive in 3rd gear and no misses/bucking yet. I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:16 am

I put 500 miles on the syncro this past weekend and I am 100% confident that the issue has been resolved.

I also reconnected the Oxygen sensor with no ill effects. It seems to smooth out start-from-stops.

thanks for everyone's' help.

Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:42 pm

I had a power loss issue as well. When I cleaned the electrical connections to the throttle in the engine it seemed to have solved the problem. i would do this first because its the easiest. Easier then checking all the grounds.

Mon Jul 15, 2019 3:22 pm

10 year old topic!

Does the tach needle instantly drop w/ loss of power?

this solved my 'cutting out' problem, and is an inexpensive fix:

- new plug wires
- new coil
- new engine ground cable to chassis

Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:40 pm

I latched onto this thread, as I was having a problem with my 86 Westy 2.2 hiccupping. It began on some rather rough road in central OR, and happenned randomly ever since. There was no way to predict it, it was driving me insane. Uphill, downhill, in any gear, at any RPM, would not happen for a few miles, then a bunch of slight hiccups in a minute. Sometimes a major one when coming off of a stop.

I focused on fuel at first, because I had to fill up at a subpar gas station out there, and a friend informed me about OR's rather lax regulations on water allowable in fuels. I'm 95% consistent on buying premium gas, but have always been thankful to get away with less when I needed to.

After fresh tanks, some Heet additives, it didn't go away. My lines are good. I changed the fuel filter. Nope. Someone had suggested the wide-open throttle switch. Nope. I was hoping to find something and eliminate the AFM, but I was getting ready to give up.

Then I found this thread, and started examining the grounds. All were good, clean, connected. When I checked the ECU, intending to add a ground (as someone mentioned above like 10 years ago), I saw that it already had one.

BUT - the ECU and shield were not secured against anything. There was a random piece of wood in there, maybe that was holding it at one point, but no screws were holding it down. I secured it. Then I drove over 100 miles without a single hiccup. Maybe it's gone for now. What the hell. :D