Vanagon issues I can't find figure out..please help!

[mazzidumato]

Hi. I am going to describe the problem in detail with all my observations since the issue of loosing power and Fuel smell.

The van is a 85 Vanagon Manual Trans.

I was filling gas one day and filled it up to the max, before entering back in the driver's seat I noticed a leak on the driver's side through 1 of the hoses over the wheel compartment. It was fuel. I replace the hose and drove for about 4 hours. Before reaching my destination less than half a mile away, looks like I ran out of fuel, so I pumped the brakes and switched off and started a few times and made it into the gas station. When I drove again a couple of days, I noticed the van was loosing power on uphills (even little uphill roads). I didnt worry too much and kept driving for a few more weeks. Finally I was leaving to go for a 2 hr destination, I noticed a smell of fuel in the car. I kept going and the van wouldnt do well on the uphills of the highway. I got to my destination and got a mechanic to look at it. I explained the issues above and he thought my fuel filters might have clogged up, so we replaced these, there was one of the hoses just under the throttle in the engine was off and not in good condition. So we replaced these hoses.
The van drove well for about 20 min and started to do the same, this time before having the issues, it drove like a beauty, going uphill etc with no difficulty. Soon after 20min or so, the same problem happened. Now I can smell strong smell of partly unburnt fuel.
I noticed a big crack in the muffler and a friend told me that this could be the problem. Last year I removed the catalytic converter when it broke and we had a pipe welded directly to the muffler.
Now Im wondering if the muffler could be the reason this is happening?

Also one important note, when the van looses power, and about to die, I turned the engine off and immediately turn it on again and van has the power to go right way, for about 5-7 minutes then dies again. Could this be that the fuel pump is not functioning correctly? Could there be a clog in there or that it functions for a while and then stops? It almost feels like there is no fuel reaching the engine, but if this was the case, why would switching off then on again make it run ok?

Please give me your opinions as Im pretty much stuck in a town and need to move asap. I have since replaced the distributor rotor and have a spare oxygen sensor not installed yet if this is needed. Thank you.

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Dont think it has anything to do with muffler. Since it ran great after you replaced the filters I'm wondering if you don't have some crud in your gas tank? So ran well then filters got clogged again.

The smell of gas is worrisome and you want to check your hoses from the tank all the way to the engine and back. I would replace them all while you are at it.

You could also disconect hose going from gas tank to pump and drain it into a container. This would show you the condition of gas. I think you will see that it's full of particles.

[mazzidumato]

[bobbyblack]

Im with Ahmed on the fuel clog. i'd say in addition to that suggestion, "back-drain" the fuel filter... see what comes out of the inlet side into a glass jar... if its full of crap, then you've got a big clue, in addition to the previous suggestion.

Also, plenty of stuff has been mentioned about your rig, so I'll guess it is a stock 1.9 waterboxer. It would be really good to have a confirmation on this, this time around. Yes, we know who you are. Good previous thread tho. I'd guess at NOT the Vanagon Syndrom, if indeed it is the stock 1.9 engine. Now, if it is a converted-to-newer system somehow, like using the digifant ecu, AFM, etc, then we;d probably like to know about that ASAP.

I believe the hose near the Throttle Body is the vacuum canister purge hose, and its good to hook that back up, but really far off the target for reasons you are getting this issue.

I would run the van until it did the little thingy, and give the fuel pump a quick touch, if its HOT, you got some kind of problem. If you can hold your hand on it plenty easy, its probably not the pump itself, but it should be at least a bit warm.

Again, the fuel leaking out under your seat is because you need to reseal the fuel tank. When you do that, you got to take the tank out... you will know at that point if you should replace the tank at that time. Unless, of course, there is a bunch of crap coming out of the tank in the first test Ahmed suggested, then you already need to replace tank, get the reseal kit, and probably the fuel level sender and O ring all at the same time.

In the reseal process, do take out the expansion tanks at the back of the front wheel wells too, check them over for cracks, infiltration of debris, etc.
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[dgbeatty]

So to understand. Until you fix a leak in the fuel system the problem wasn't there. Is that correct?
Pull you charcoal cannister off and check to see if you can blow through the large top connection. If no, then that is a problem.

[djkeev]

[levi]

When you let it run out of gas, all the small particles that were previously dispersed along the bottom of the tank were gathered together.

If you get it down to the last 3-4 gallons you might try dumping it in a tub and try to flush what you can out of there.

Of course that's just a very temporary fix.
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[E1]

I also do not think the exhaust crack has any bearing on this.

If me I'd start with a tankful of fuel drier and injector cleaner.

With the gas smell, as Dave said that's a sign you may have introduced water into the gas. Sometimes issues with these buggies are just that quick and cheap to fix.

If your spark plugs are consistent in color (cocoa brown is correct) and are all dry, the injectors are likely fine. Mine weren't after water got into holes in the evap tanks in the front wheel wells from a mere five minutes of downpour.

Any rain shortly before the issue?

Levi's comment on gas quality is good, if you pour some into a milk bottle the water and gas will quickly separate to identify water's in the tank.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[davevickery]

Loss of power even the inability to run can be the result of water in the gas. I had a cracked plastic tank under one of my wheel wells that pulled in water when driving in heavy rain. The van would run at first, then idle, then eventually nothing. Before it died altogether the problem was intermittent because the first few times there wasn't that much water. Eventually I ran into a big rain storm and had to tow it home.

If you got water into the fuel filter maybe that could explain it. When you shut off and turn on the fuel pump primes again and maybe that pressurizes it enough to run for a few minutes.

You might need to change the fuel filter again if you have a leak letting water to get into the tank. If you pull the hose off the gas tank and drain it into a bucket, you will see water in the bottom of the bucket if this is the problem.

[Wildthings]

Anything that causes a misfire can cause your problem. The O2 sensor detects a misfire as a lean condition and causes the ECU to send more fuel through the injectors. This worsens the misfire causing even more fuel to be sent to the engine until the engine just will not run anymore. Turning the ignition off and on causes the FI to run open loop for 30 seconds or so. The engine may seem to run fine during this interval, when in reality is has a slight miss.

You may need new plugs, new wires, or to have your injectors cleaned. Also check that the center lead for your coax isn't shorted to ground.