What did YOU do to your van today?

[campism]

Battery ground cable? A buddy's non-Vanagon had this symptom with that cause.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[bobbyblack]

NSPeters92,

usually helps to have a tagline or state in the post what year, engine, etc. you might be talking about. I did take a look at your gallery to see what that might be, and I am seeing a probable 83.5-85 model. Thus, "Vanagon Syndrome" not a likely issue.

My vague guess is engine compartment ground area needs cleaned up, wires going to it checked. Especially the coil wire to ground. I would also pull the coil to diz spark wire and clean that up.

Also sounds possible that there is some oxidation in the ECU area, or a cracked solder joint on the ECU board. I've seen a veteran here suggest removing the ECU housing, and laying it on its side while hunting for your (soon to be) spare.

Hope you find whatever it is soon!

-bobby
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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

[jlrftype7]

Swap your new fuel pump relay with the other relay in the black plastic relay box and see what happens. Symptom would still be a dying vehicle if the relay is bad, but only the fuel pump should be inop at that point.
Tach dying really fast, check the connections at the coil in case you have a slight loose pin contact there .

Hall Effect wires breaking on you ?... inspect them gently inside the Distributor where they flex on the advance plate.

A meter and the Bentley are your best bet to diagnose versus throwing parts at it.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Mikeprince]

My new-to-me 2.1 would start right up and drive fine, and then suddenly die.

Turned out to be the temp 2 sensor. $10 and it runs perfect.

But to solve that I chased a bunch of other leads first, including fuel pressure test, cleaning all grounds, etc.

Bentley has some good diagnostic procedures, so if you haven’t gone to the Bible yet, maybe it’s worth a shot

[bobbyblack]

Sorting out which manual to follow, of course Bentley, but if it is a 1.9, get the DigiJet pro training manual, and if its a 2.1, you'll follow the DigiFant one.

By the look of your pic's, its the DigiJet.

Look in the FAQ, you'll find them.

-bobby
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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

[jlrftype7]

Huge job tonight after work.
I pulled the Brake Warning Indicator section out of my cluster and replaced both bulbs, and gently cleaned the oxidation off the little printed circuit board for the connector.
Now my Parking Brake Warning lights up when I pull the handle..ll
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[NSPeters92]

Sorry all! Its an ‘85 Vanagon GL with the 1.9L ... checked grounds today and even consolidated some with new crimped on ring ends. Cleaned most the grounds I could find in the engine compartment with sandpaper and retightened down good. Also did the transmission ground strap on both ends. Today it fired up for about 20 seconds then died tach to zero pretty instantly after that. Wasn’t able to get it going the rest of the day. Checked the battery ground and it was good. The positive cable was pretty corroded and actually snapped when wiggling it... so got a new ground strap, new positive terminal connector and went ahead and just got a new battery (the one I had was from ‘17, and although tested fine, due to the location was just easier to replace it straight off). One less thing to worry about... checked my distributor cap and rotor... inside of the cap had some green corrosion on the inside contacts, and rotor had a little blackness to the contact as well, so when I was at Autozone got a new cap (rotor would have to be ordered). When trying to replace the cap tonight, several of the wires pulled right out of their crimps at the ends when trying to get them off the cap... FML.

Ordered: Dist. Rotor, new wireset, ignition switch, ignition control module, & ignition coil.

Hoping one of these are the root cause. Might be a little pissed if the $30 ignition switch is ultimately the cause of this headache... i’ve replaced it before. Also have done the coil, control module before... plugs/wires/cap/rotor/fuel filter were done like 2-3 months ago. Grrrrr

Will update as parts come in and go in... been scouring the forum here for ideas, there’s just so many possibilities.

[NSPeters92]

Also just ordered a Temp II sensor & new plug... will try to replace this along with the new wireset and distributor cap / rotor, & ignition switch, holding off oN installing the more expensive parts... can always return em if I don’t actually need to replace em!

[jlrftype7]

Removed the paper thin foam insulation/sound dampener under the front seats, at the wheel boxes. It was falling apart and the glue was loosing its grip on top of it.
After cleaning and prepping the metal, I added Butyl Rubber Pads first, thinner ones than my Dynamat pads. Then, I installed B-Quiet Foam material , about 3/8” thick on top of that.
After driving and listening on my drive home, it’s a noticeable difference in noise reduction. The normal suspension noises are really lower in intensity now, and the tire noise is muted as well.
Tomorrow I remove the Dash for Blower and Heater Core/Box work, and will add more double layering of sound deadener as I go.
Can’t wait to ‘Hear’ the results of that work.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Finally installed Intrepid Overland’s Intake Flap kit. Really fun dialing in the heat level just with how much air I was letting into the Vanagon, especially at Highway Speeds. While I didn’t get to removing my dash and heater box as planned today, just too tired, I did see how worn my foam
Seals were on my Heaterbox.
With a very small amount of outside air being let in, my heat output to the Defrost Vents was definitely hotter than when full Ram Air is going through the box. Air is being allowed to get past the core without going through it and you feel both hot and cold air mixing out of the Defrost Vents at high speeds.
Not so with the footwell vents at any speed or 10cc flap kit setting, so that foam sealing must be in better shape since it’s always the hottest air coming out of my heater. It will all get replaced once I get the box out to rebuild it, but this flap kit proved I wasn’t wrong about my slightly tepid Defrost Temps out of those vents.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[NSPeters92]

I got most the parts I ordered in yesterday, and got the chance to systematically put them in today... first in was the new distributor rotor and wriest. No Start. Next was the new ignition switch. No Start (so gonna keep the old one for a spare). Next in was the Coil and Ignition Control Module (didn't know if one or the other would effect each other depending if one was the faulty unit, so replaced em at the same time). Start! Bingo! Seemed to run and drive well. Took it to get more fuel. Started well after that. Took it up to Autozone to get new wipers and some Marvel Mystery Oil... started and ran good on the run back home after that.

Still have the new Temp II and wiring harness for it coming in on Tuesday from RMW... gonna go ahead and prophylactically put those in when they get here to be dually sure its good to go!

Aaaand probably gonna take a week or so of good driving (no recurrence of problems) before I really feel comfortable with it again, but I'm pretty stoked that I got it going again.

[BCE56]

Tired of chasing leaks and worrying about cooling system. Ordered stainless pipes and related items yesterday.
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=BCE56=

'86 Syncro tintop
EJ22, OBD II early SC adapter plate conversion

Side project: '69 Frankenbug "It's alive!"

[beachinwesty]

Thought about how much fun we had with our Westfalia when we went to the adult pinewood Derby at Union Craft Brewing in Baltimore Md.

[4Gears4Tires]

[jlrftype7]

Replaced my curling rubber footwell pieces with fresh ones. Used 3M spray adhesive to help keep them in the mounting holes
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Finally added the 3rd brake light I bought months ago. I went with a Amazon product, 2 levels of brightness for the user.
I was able to use the dimmer setting versus the full on Bright circuit. LED assembly, low draw on amperage.
I drilled and installed 5mm riv-nuts in the rear hatch to mount the light versus a glue on light assembly. Made 1/8” flat bar brackets to match the angle of the light to the hatch metal.
Should have done it earlier. I feel better now with more notice given that I’m braking to the drivers behind me.

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[4Gears4Tires]

Looks great. That is on my to do list as well.

I was thinking about running this one, that has adhesive tape to stick to the inside. https://www.amazon.com/Sequential-Signals-DC12V%EF...XSY8RYMSKE
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[campism]

Started repairing my EV seats today. Took @Reckless Amateur up on his offer of the free seatcovers and while waiting for them to wash and dry I began exploring the worst of my two EV thrones, the driver's side. The upholstery was always worse on this one and it has not aged well, and the right armrest went wonky on me a while back. Time to take a look at things.

Now, I have reupholstered a sofa and two chairs so I'm not unacquainted with the process, but I'd forgotten what a PITA this job is. Kiss a quick R&R job good bye. I'll say up front that this much effort would be better spent on installing new covers from Sewfine than doing used covers, or maybe installing Town & Country seats for an even bigger change. I may still bail on this job and go with the latter if it turns out to be much more trouble. In addition, the covers from RA are the "other" EV fabric so I need to do both seats or the patterns will clash, maybe not as bad as stripes and plaid or camo and polka dots, but obvious.

Here's the victim supine on the table.

Here's a view of the armrest but you can't tell how off it really is. It just flops around.

Got the cover off the seat cushion and the seatback cover peeled up far enough for armrest triage. You can see threads in the hole; this is the good side. This little nut does all the work and actually slips into a slot behind the hole on the other side so it'll take some doing for me to rig a jig to hold it for the welder on Monday.

I may still bail on this job but I'll see how it goes. Stay tuned.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[jlrftype7]

Finally dove in, removed the Dash and the Heaterbox. Rebuilt the box with new blower, new resistor, new core and new foam for the flaps.
Added some foam style sound deadener in areas where it would fit while the dash was out.
Washed the interior of Heaterbox , lot of caked on dust in there.
Corrected my radio wiring finally with separate power wires for battery memory and ignition feed.

Replaced the original wiper relay with the variable intermittent relay and replaced the Coolant Level Relay with the later style version. Production date on the relay was from 1983, I kept it as a memento of the Vanagon....

Cleaned off the ground stars and lowered the wiper spindles to clean and grease them. Will be interesting to see how much faster the wiper motor operates when it’s really cold outside. It was slow to move at first on cold Winter Mornings.
Lubed the pivot joints on the wiper linkage as well.
Long day at work on the Vanagon but worth the effort.
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[campism]

Got a little more done on the seat today, but wound up helping a neighbor reattach a Jeep flare to a fender liner and that took most of the afternoon. Those nifty-looking plastic pop rivets don't seem to work so we used bolts, washers and Nylock nuts, with a little black paint.

Here's the square nut in place behind the sheet metal of the seat frame. I'd marked its outline and then drilled holes at the corners for the welds. Using one of my new, as-yet-uninstalled triple square CV bolts to locate things.

Then thinking about it I decided to countersink the holes for better weld penetration. Wood shim behind the nut jams it in position until welded. Hope this works.

Here's the locating pin on the armrest that fits into the rectangular hole near the bolt. You can see above how having the arm loose allowed everything to move and the arm not swing just up and down but all around instead.

Here's a look at the competing patterns of the EV seat fabrics that I mentioned previously. Not terrible.

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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic