New Westfalia Fuel Injection Owner

[66 mango vert]

New owner of a 1976 Westfalia. This is my first fuel-injected air-cooled vehicle.

She has about 130,000 miles on her and the service records indicate a rebuild around 90,000 miles. She's in usable condition and I've been making small repairs slowly, new CV boots, fixing an exhaust leak, repairing the refrigerator, adding a second battery, cleaning up years of crud, chasing an oil leak (push rod tube I think), etc.

Previous owner before I bought her changed the oil, cleaned the fuel system and injectors and replaced the fuel lines, replaced plugs, coil, cap, rotor, and points.

Bus runs great and starts right up. I've put about 500 miles or so on her since taking delivery building confidence in her daily.

The question is - What should I be keeping on hand or checking to keep the fuel injection/ignition system operating well? I'm a believer in preventive maintenance for mechanical equipment but I don't have experience with this type of fuel injection to build from. I've been taking the family camping a want to be prepared. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!!

[Wildthings]

FI doesn't need very much in the way of regular maintenance as it is pretty dependable. Keep the engine compartment mouse free so the wires don't get gnawed and make sure the fuel lines the PO put on carry a 30r9 rating, the clamps need to be suitable for high pressure use and not the cheapies that cut into the hose when tightened. A dose of FI cleaner every 10,000 miles or so should keep the injectors clean. Letting your van sit for long periods with ethanol laced fuel in the tank is a big negative. Either drive your bus frequently enough to go through a tank of fuel a month or keep non ethanol fuel in the tank. The part of the FI system that is most apt to fail is the TSII sensor so its good to keep a spare in the glove box, use never seize on the threads when installing. I have a setup where I can quickly short the wire to the TSII to ground should the sensor fail, kind of a limp home feature. A filter change once every year or two would be good.

You want your ignition timing set at 28° BTDC @3800 rpms, hoses off and plugged, as the book spec may not work all that well with the worn mismatched distributor parts you likely have

[SGKent]

on FI buses a common failure are bad vacuum connections. Get yourself a smoke detector off Ebay or Amazon, use it with even a bicycle pump. Then fix any leaks. Injector seals are easy to replace, do not over tighten the nuts.

I would also get a good torque wrench to 250 ft lb, maybe one to 100 ft lb and one in 1-50 in lbs. If you buy them used then send them off to teamtorque.com to be cleaned and calibrated. Stay away from the cheap imported ones like at HF. You can get an American one from the 60's to 80's at a garage sale or Ebay, FB Market place etc.. Even if they don't click they can be fixed and calibrated usually. Mine quit clicking and it was just that the grease in the head hardened. If they are physically abused avoid them.

Good Luck and welcome.
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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

[mfemenel]

[dodger tom]

The nut that holds the rear brake drum to the hub.

Have a long pipe handy, and be prepared to jump up and down on it.
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1978 Champaign Edition Westfalia
Would never find the time to keep up another classic air-cooled.

[telford dorr]

The biggest problem I have found with FI systems is the wiring harness. I don't know what it is with Germans and plastic, but they seem to love wire sleeving which gets hard and brittle with age. This puts ridiculous mounts of stress on the wires themselves, leading to wire failure. I recommend cutting back any brittle sleeving as needed and rewrapping with an alternate material of some kind. I prefer shrink tubing, but this involves removing pins from connectors to install the tubing - not hard to do if you have a pin removal tool (Amazon). They do make a shrink tape...

[Note: ultimately, I built a whole new harness using silver plated teflon insulated wire. It has proven to be completely flexible and trouble-free.]
_________________
'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST)

[ToolBox]

[66 mango vert]

Thank you all for the replies. I am seeing what you all are talking about with the wiring! Very brittle, replacing the harness is on the list.

Thanks again!!

[Gregg in the 603]

REBUILD THE HARNESS YOURSELF! What you will learn about the fuel injection system in the process is invaluable. It will entirely de-mystify the system. There are several threads on here about it.
This is the one I followed
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=570114&highlight=harness
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1979 Mexico Beige Westy auto
Dirty Dover, NH

[volkybus]

Here's my two cents What fails most on this bus is the grounds.Often fails also is the double relay.. Third and most importantly fuel lines break or leak and cause FIRES. TRUST ME I KNOW(Don't ask) When you change them make sure their not routed near the many HOT exhaust pipes. Good Luck and Welcome Aboard to the best VW Bus ever made bar none.. Believe me I've owned buses since the sixties and own a 76 Westy Right now..Bill

[Wildthings]

[telford dorr]

Seems to be mainly the covering. Once I ripped it all off, the wire underneath wasn't too bad at all. Replaced it anyhow, as I wanted to lengthen the harness a bit, for a better fit... ('75 bug FI into a '71 bus).
_________________
'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST)