Lost Spark

[Agnesmerle1]

Hello,
Recently while driving my '91 auto Vanagon it unexpected shut off. After coasting it to a nearby parking lot I tried starting it again, but to no avail. It turns over, but will not start. I was stumped, so i took it to a local mechanic that is farmiliar with these who told me that it lost spark. I recently replaced the ignition switch, but that was all the work that was done to it in the previous 6 months.
If anyone has any recommendations for a possible fix or steps to troubleshoot this i would greatly appriciate it. I am almost to the point of just putting in a whole new engine, but trying to avoid this.

Thanks!

[vanis13]

What is the name mechanic shop that said it lost spark?

Why did they not fix it?
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83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make

[crazyvwvanman]

Why was the ignition switch recently replaced?
Who actually replaced it, you or someone else?

Spark mostly comes from outside the engine and goes into the engine.
Replacing the engine doesn't make sense if trying to fix missing spark.
You could replace the whole engine and still not have spark.

Not getting spark is a common problem and it is usually easy to fix.
What can be hard is to figure out exactly what the cause is.
Do not replace any parts until more testing is done to figure out what part has failed or what wiring isn't doing its job.

Mark

[mike boland]

i'd check you hall sender Bentley tells how to do it. hall sender controls the spark in distribrator

[RicMcK]

I lost spark the other day on my 2.1L WBX.
It was a 5 min fix!

The contacts on the Hall sensor plug needed to be bent slightly inward (closing any gaps). It turned out the Hall Sensor plug female connector strips were not making a good connection to the Male connector on the distributor. I simply bent the contacts on the plug to close any gaps between the contacts. Then added some dielectric grease.
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Rick McK
Seattle
89 Westfalia-2.2L WBX "VINNY"
2006 TDI Jetta
1936 Ford Pick up
70 tin top, 700k mi when sold in 91
58 split window bug - (first car) long gone.

[Agnesmerle1]

The ignition switch was replaced because I was having problems with the van turning off while running / driving, and the key felt loose. I replaced it myself and after this it ran fine up until this incident.

[?Waldo?]

If the spark hasn't been lost too long, a romantic dinner might bring it back.
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I am a high-functioning autistic into VW diesels and Vanagons along with other things that are unrelated to this site.

[E1]

OMG, you stole my line.
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If ever twice as rich, we’re gettin’ a double-wide
’84 “Westfailure”/2.1 Digijet/5.43 Ring & Pinion/Peloquin/D-rated BFG KO2s

AI has spoken to further illiteracy, to steal, to cheat, and to replace humans
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