"77 camper stalling

[slaaman.sh]

Hello group, to start off, thanks for all the info over the years. You have helped me so much.

I have a 1977 2.0 EFI T2 Westfalia Berlin Deluxe ‘Bay Window’ Camper Van. Owned it since '95. It was purchased in Germany brand new, traveled Europe for 6 months, brought hear to S.F. Bay Area, and I am the second owner.

Twice now it has stopped on the side of the road and had to get it towed home. I am driving with no worries and then it feels as if I have just run out of gas. I can start it, It will idle, but will not run under load.

The first time I thought that maybe it might be a fuel filter problem, so I changed it out (brown liquid drained out) as well as put a new fuel pump in since I was down there. ran great after, so figured that that was the problem.

The second time it happened I lost power (same feeling) going up a slight hill. After some time say 20-30 min checking if I could see or feel anything wrong, I was able to get it turned around, down the hill, not able to go over about 20 MPH, and limped for a few miles. (cooled down?)

I had the engine rebuilt and put in last year and it was running great, until this problem about 2 months ago, and then 2 weeks ago.

New fuel filter
New fuel pump
newer point and condenser
new coil
valves adjusted
idle at about 850-900
timing, I went with 28° BTDC @ 3500rpm
fuel pressure at 31°
replaces all vacuum hose connecters; gas tank area, engine bay, left vent area.

I thought that it might be a fuel delivery prob. thus filter pump and fuel pressure test. Then I replaces all Vacuum hose areas, but then thought it could also be electrical, thus points, condenser, coil.....

I have been driving it for about a week with no problems thus far, longest around 30 miles and back, but I have to say I misses an air cooled event in Santa Cruz because of PTSD....

There are no real good air-cooled mechanics in the bay area, who want to work on EFI. Or I pay an arm and a leg, maybe my first born to have someone check it out.

Help me Mr. Wizard, any thought?




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[SGKent]

next time it happens, check for spark so you can eliminate that as one of the causes. Buy a noid light and check one of the injectors to see if it is firing when this happens. That will tell you if the injectors are getting a signal to open.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[Wildthings]

Check that your points are still opening normally. If you used new Bosch points they can fail in very few miles causing a poor spark and throwing the timing off.

[Wasted youth]

On your airflow meter, there is a six or seven tab electrical plug. I used to experience this thing that people call Vanagon syndrome (?) where the ignition seems to cut out and restart on its own… or sometimes I would have a problem where it would idle, but would not handle acceleration.

Through my troubleshooting, I found that that plug was actually sort of loose. Which after 40+ years, I’m sort of loose and erratic also.

My side of the road solution was to “very carefully” twist those tabs a little bit so when it plugged back in the male tabs were just a little bit cocked as they went into the female side so it made a very snug and tight connection.

On my 1981 air-cooled Vanagon… which is basically the same set up, I did that also, and later I sent the airflow meter off to be rebuilt by a company in Tracy, California. I’m not embellishing when I say my engine performance was greatly improved.

I’m only offering this as advice that might not be your issue, but it’s definitely something that helped me.

Do an Ohms (resistance) check on your TS2 sensor. One of my earliest escapades was a bad TS2 sensor; and I can’t recall, but I think it might’ve been Busdaddy or Wildthings that gave me advice that got us home.

I really like the Bosch Jetronic ignition system. I think it is much easier to troubleshoot than carburetors, but that’s probably because I have more experience with the EFI then I do carburetors

. With that said, someone once said it has to be thought of like an orchestra. If one instrument isn’t playing well, the entire melody sounds like shit. So it’s really important that your wiring harness doesn’t have any bad connections, that all of your grounds on that ground tree (that they stupidly put under the intake plenum) and all of your plugs are in good condition.

[airschooled]

[SGKent]

[wagen19]

[lil-jinx]

those 2 stalling/ power loss events were 6 weeks apart,did you drive it during that time ,and how far.was there any issues during that time ,6 weeks of daily driving with just 2 events will be much harder to diagnose then a problem that happens every time it,s driven.can the problem be replicated ,were there any condition on the 2 event day that were different then other driving days,
I would start with a good cleaning of all electric connectors in the fuel/ ignition system,it is unlikely that you will find a smoking gun.it could be as simple as a loose connector.
a faulty fuel pressure regulator maybe,
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https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620186
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=668799
1974 Bay Westfalia. she likes to be called Ethel.
1968 Dune Buggy sold dec 2024

1974 parts bus
A smart man learns from his mistakes,a very smart man learns from other's mistakes.

[raygreenwood]

You noted that there was brown nasty gas in the old fuel filter that poured out when you changed it.

That says to me "rusty tank" and crap in the gasoline. It is also a cyclic problem.....meaning fine flakes of rust/silt can clog the sock filters in the tank (if you have one) cause poor running, stalling, no starting.....and then with a little sloshing around and settling.....clears away the silt from the sock filter letting flow start again and it's miraculously running again.......and the cycle repeats itself.

Same thing to a degree can happen even if you have no sock filter in the tank. You get partial blockage of the filter and after shutdown.....you get a small amount of back flow that settles out some of the silt in the filter making a clean spot. It's also cyclic.....but has a more abrupt and permanent ending because the fuel filter is about 20X finer than the sock filters.

Ray

[Wildthings]

Fuel injected rigs did not have the sock, but yes if you have something floating around in the tank it is possible for it to block off the pipe for the fuel injection outlet.

For pre fuel injected rigs, remove the outlet pipe from the tank and throw away the sock, now shorten the pipe so it only sticks half as far into the tank and cut opposing slits into the pipe making it much harder for anything to block the pipe. You likely already will have an after market filter either before or after the pump to catch debris so the sock is unnecessary and the shorter pipe will allow less water to set perpetually in the bottom of the tank, plus the shorter pipe will give you a slight increase in the amount of usable fuel the tank will hold. If you have problems with getting water into your fuel, a fuel water separator is a better idea than having a reservoir for the water in the bottom of the tank as per the stock setup.