Space Capsule 1995: Repairs, Roadtrips, Retrofits, & Wrenching

[Saturn]

[mikemtnbike]

Mine had a visible drop from front-to-back and was proud from the body by a 1/4 inch of so on the back.

So yours does not look like that.

Both the "female" end of the latch and the hinges have some adjustment built in. Honestly, I just loosened stuff, heaved it around a couple different ways until the gap was closed and door was flush, and tightened it back up.
_________________
1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[soissisc]

My doors seem to fill up a little bit with water, from the window scraper leaking? When I open my door from a heavy rain some water seems to trickle out of the drain holes. Could you door somehow be draining onto the bottom step? I mean, if it is dripping, would it fall straight down into the footwell or would it hit the seat? Your seal looks pretty good up top. Is the door drains somehow above the lower seal on the door? I am just shooting out suggestions.
_________________
Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[Saturn]

[Saturn]

Footwell Update

Yesterday went back to check on the EVC after an inch and a half of rainfall. Both footwells were dry so looks like I will need to improve the seals around the top of the front doors. Since more rain is forecast for next week, planning to keep the blue tape on the van.

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1993 Weekender No-Start & Electron Storage
Last month took a trip to San Diego and the Weekender sat parked for not quite a week. Going to the van to move it for street cleaning, find it cranks but will not start. The voltmeter in the dash USB charger reads 11.9 volts so figure this must be a battery issue. The starter has been noticeably cranking slower recently and the Eurovan has only been used for short excursions during the last few weeks. Break out a jump pack to assist, after several attempts the engine is still refusing to roar to life. Pull the main ECU connector to inspect it as well as the pins. Remove the distributor cap to make sure the engine is rotating, the rotor and the center carbon nub.

The Weekender is sitting on a somewhat steep-graded street as well as sloping down towards the curb. The fuel gauge is pointing down in the reserve section making me think the gasoline in the tank might be pooling in the front corner and too low for the fuel pump pick up. From the trunk of my Volvo 242 pull out a gas jug with about a 1/3 of a gallon of gas in it and empty that into the van. With that infusion, it still refuses to start. Undo the gas line going to the cold start valve to find it is pretty much dry. Yank the fuel pump relay to put a jumper wire between the 30 and 87 connectors to manually engage the fuel pump. While the whine of the pump is audible, no fluid emerges from the hose.

Jump in the 242 and drive to a service station to refill the gas jug. Another gallon is emptied into the van’s tank and retest the fuel pump. When turning the key to the #2 position a fountain of fuel quickly erupts from the open line. Button everything back up, since the gasoline has splashed all over the front of the engine, let things sit for 15 minutes for the spill to evaporate. Twisting the ignition key, it is pretty evident the battery still needs some assistance. After hooking up the jump pack, the engine finally starts and idles. Drive back to the service station to put another five gallons in the van and replenish the empty fuel jug. Two weeks later the van again refuses to start but this is plainly from a lack of electrons and not gasoline. This time I remove the battery and put it on a charger overnight. Seeing the sitting voltage slowly deteriorating, been using the Weekender more to keep the battery charged. On one of these errands ended up running into a hippy cousin while driving through the Mission District. With the ambient temperature dropping over the last month, its pretty obvious Weekender’s battery is approaching the end of its service life. On the top is a sticker displaying June 2016, a decent service life. Right now, not sure to replace it with another AGM (it is an Optima yellow top) or a lead acid type.

During the San Diego visit, a friend drove me out east along I-8 to visit the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, CA. It is only open on Saturdays and has quite the inventory of trucks, motorized mining equipment, buses and other related ephemera. (FYI: This place is not focused on cars at all.) What I found interesting the various states of disrepair the various vehicles were in. This is not due to them being cannibalized for parts but rather weather, time and good dose of apathy so it is overloaded with patina. Most everything is moderately intact so it is not like walking through a junkyard either. Though it can feel that way with some individual vehicles. Did encounter a Bay Window Bus, but believe that is owned by one of the museum’s staff. A little further down the road near Ocotello is the amusing Coyote’s Flying Saucer Salvage, Retrieval and Repair Service as well as the Desert View Tower overlooking the Imperial Valley.

Motor Transport Museum:

Coyote’s Flying Saucer Salvage, Retrieval and Repair Service:

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[Saturn]

Contemptuous Instrument Cluster Continues

Since the Weekender has been put into regular service over the last month or so, there is one issue which has become noticeable. The temperature and gas gauges sometimes display lower than expected readings. After dealing with the no-start situation back in November, I notice the gas gauge sometimes only reads around 1/4 of a tank when I knew it should be around 1/2 of a tank. At the same time the temp gauge seems to be reading low as well. There are a couple times while driving both of these gauge needles start dropping as if power has been just cut. Meanwhile the clock, tach and lighting continue to operate normally. As not all of the plastic trim around the steering column has been reinstalled, it is possible to reach behind the dash. When noticing the errant readings from the gas gauge, the normal procedure is to reach up to press on the main connector going into the instrument cluster. Since this only temporarily resolves and not solves the problem, the gauge cluster will need to pulled at some point to get to the root of the issue.

With a sunny afternoon on New Year’s Day, it is time once again to remove the steering wheel and extract out the instruments from the dashboard. The prime suspect with this situation are the soldered connections of the main connector on the circuit board. To access these, the entire gauge cluster will need to be taken apart. Field stripping the cluster has become second nature after spending so much time chasing down the blinking coolant light. One of the recent acquisitions is a 20V battery-powered soldering station. Since I am aligning with the Dewalt brand for cordless tools, this station simply mounts to one of these battery packs. These units can be found for any of the different tool platforms as well. As the total cost from Amazon was $22 with holiday sale pricing and a promotion/rebate, figure it is worth trying it out. Let it heat up and begin to reflow the solder on each of the 28 pins. The unit works just fine, though it seems best for light jobs, not with something involving large heat soak objects like a case grounding on a potentiometer. To make sure this is not an issue with the voltage stabilizer, reflow those connectors again before cleaning off the metal grounding surfaces on the mounting points with a wire brush. The last item is compressing the arms of the four main connectors into the gauges on the circuit board to ensure a tight mechanical connection there.

While putting things back together, a small mishap occurs when I accidentally graze the gas gauge needle, causing it to rotate way past its normal travel. The needle ends up resting and pointing at 11:00 instead of 4:00. “Oh fudge!”, but I didn’t say fudge… to quote a great cinematic masterpiece. Gently pull on the needle mounts and they easily pop off. Undo the two screws holding the face and this reveals the guts of the gauges. The temp and gas gauge work the same: a metallic strip sits in a channel of a plastic housing. Depending on the resistance value provided by the sending units, the strip bends against the side of the channel forcing this to pivot in response. This movement is reflected in the position of the needle mounted on top of this housing. What happened when the needle over-rotated, the strip fell out of the channel. Realigning these two parts returned everything to the proper position and back to working status. Attached the face, gently remount the needles and lock the gauges into the circuit board.

Metallic Strip Not In Plastic Channel

Metallic Strip Back In Plastic Channel

Reassemble the rest of cluster and return to the Weekender. After a bit of a struggle, find the main connector is having a hard time locking into place. Check to make sure all the pins are still straight to notice one of the plastic fingers securing the male connector through the cluster housing is a bit askew. After several attempts to get the main wiring connector (female) to fully lock, realize everything needs to come apart again to properly align that finger out of the way. Strip and reassemble the instrument cluster in about five minutes and finally it is able to full lock in. This is most likely the issue all along, the main connector was not able to be fully seated into place. Restart the engine to check the gauge readings and everything seems copacetic with the instrument cluster.

Before replacing back the control stalks and the steering wheel, there is one other maintenance item I have been meaning to do. With the steering column exposed, want to replacing out some of the grease in the ball bearing assembly. While not a deep cleaning, just want to simply wipe away some of the old grease and replace with fresh. Dig out the can of Mobil 1 synthetic and apply a generous layer into and around the bearings. Reattach the stalk controls and steering wheel to finish this job.

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[Saturn]

Since the beginning of the year, the Weekender has not required much wrenching or maintenance, through my other cars are the ones needing attention. Finally finished replacing the worn clutch disc and rear main seal in my Volvo 240. With the wagon being operational, it is finally time to concentrate on the next project: a 1965 Volvo 1800S with Judson supercharger. Work on this one was originally suppose to start last summer, other pressing car work jumped to the head of the line instead. Several weeks ago the 1800S was running only on 1-2 cylinders and had to get it towed to the work space/warehouse. Now there a total lack of spark being generated so have some work cut out for me with that car. When it finally gets sorted, it should be pretty fun to drive.

Lumos Maxima Part II

For the last month and a half the Weekender has been pressed into service for running errands, moving large items, and duty as the “Triple T” (aka Teutonic Troop Transport). Over the holidays met up with friends on Christmas Day for drinks & dinner in Chinatown, again on New Years Eve and later catching bands at The Bottom of the Hill. One couple who does not have a car though several vintage scooters, ended up giving them a lift home several times as ride share options were scarce and very expensive. At the end of January, helped a friend move a large mattress and other bulky items to their new place across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is still amazing to see the interior of a Eurovan swallow large, bulky objects with relative ease. On the way back home ended up driving through the Marin Headlands to take in the views of the ocean along with the the city and the famous bridge. While watching a tanker head out to sea, a black T-38 from Beale AFB buzzed the bridge several time while on a training flight.

Since driving the Weekender more than just around the block for weekly street cleaning and the occasional drive, the battery is retaining its charge. No longer experiencing the issue of the electrons slowly evaporating away. This was encountered several times last November and December with occasionally needing a jump pack to start the engine. While the battery seems to be in a more robust state, there is a noticeable voltage drop as the Weekender is being driven. At the initial start up, the voltmeters generally displaying a 14.2 -14.4v output. After driving for 30+ minutes, the voltage readouts are showing 13.2 - 13.4v. Need to check the reading at the battery terminals as not sure if this is a leading indicator of the voltage regulator or the alternator reaching end of usable service.

While not a critical component to the dashboard, one of the non-op lights I have been wanting to address on the Weekender is for the cigarette lighter ring. A couple years ago I grabbed one of these from a Eurovan in the junkyard and ended up going into a spares container. Pulling it back out to figure out how to disassemble and repair it, discover the light bulb is not serviceable. Makes me wonder why this was not a designed with a replaceable bulb, just like the illumination for the climate controls.

To disassemble things, use a small screwdriver to lever up the locking pin and the bulb holder is able to slide off from the main housing. Twisting the bulb back and forth, this finally fractures the wires and it can be fully removed. After looking at the construction, decide to install a LED bulb in place of the original incandescent one. When doing this type of conversion, it is important to figure out the polarity of the LED and this can be easily done using a 9 volt battery. On the bulb holder piece, the positive lead for the illumination is on the outer portion of the holder and the negative lead is on the inside. Straightening out the leads, the LED can be pushed into the holder with the wires emerging out of openings about halfway down the length. The negative wire is bent into a “C” shape around the metal tab for a solid mechanical connection. This can be soldered together as well. The positive lead is bent into more of a “checked” shape ( √ ) for a better mechanical connection. Hook up the 9 volt battery to give the LED bulb a shake test to ensure a strong and stable link. It holds up just fine and now is ready for installation.

Access to the lighter in the Weekender kind of tight due to the construction of the center dash. Remove the plastic rectangle under the stereo for access the lighting element of the lighter. Again use a small screwdriver to lever the locking pin out of the way and the bulb holder can now slide out. Unfortunately due to the restrictive access, it falls from my fingers in the abyss below. Carefully slide the new holder into position first by lining up the bulb into the round opening, sliding it forward until the mounting legs catch and it locks into place. Push the light switch on and the LED becomes a bright beacon and the ring around the cigarette lighter glows green. Undo the screws to the lower plastic vent covers in order to find and extracted out the dropped bulb holder. Come back out in the evening to take a pictured of the fully illuminated dash. To my small surprise, discover not only is this light for the cigarette lighter, it also illuminated the ashtray as well. Did not even occur to me that was part of the overall design, even when working on it. Plan on doing this LED retrofit /upgrade to the 1995 EVC in the near future as well.

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[Saturn]

Getting Properly Grounded

The last several months have been a mixture of working on other car projects as well being sidelined by a contemptuous knee. Work started on bringing the 1965 Volvo 1800S back to life as it seemed to be running on 1-3 cylinders and refused to run at all. At the end of February my friend Jeff from Seattle made a trip down to SF for several days and we dived into it. Turned out the 123 electronic distributor was doing neither so swapped/borrowed an OEM distributor out of my 1967 122S sedan. The engine fired right up and after dialing in the timing and dwell took it for a couple joy err... test drives. Three weeks later after angering my knee, the Weekender was sent over the hill to my friend Alex so I didn’t have to deal with moving it for street cleaning while recuperating.

At the end of April, Jeff and I took my 1975 Volvo 242 on the Snowball Rally through the Sierra’s. My knee was better though definitely not at 100%. The car completed the 2-day scenic drive with nary a hiccup or complaint. Unfortunately, a week and a half ago the 242 was stolen from in front of my place. Fortunately while driving a search pattern, I found it parked on the side alley in the Castro just before midnight two days later. Had to wait until 5:00am for SFPD to show up to release the car. Lucky, there is no exterior damage although the interior will require a deep clean as well as an exorcism of the sickly sweet vape smoke impregnated into cloth and carpet. Taken from the trunk were some hand tools and other items, but those are easily replaced. Yes, that was quite the eventful and stressful week.

Where I found the Volvo 242 parked/stashed in a alleyway in the Castro:

Since the start of the year the Weekender has been running rock solid. It was pressed into service during the car search efforts because of great outward looking visibility with its large front windscreen and windows all around. The ride height of the van also provides a better observation platform than one of my low-slung 60s-era Volvos while scanning the parked cars ahead and on the side streets. While driving around, one small peculiarity I noticed with the 52mm temperature gauge is I will need to redo the ground wiring on it. While driving around in the evening, turned on the headlights and the gauge needle climbed a bit higher. When wiring it up, I combined the gauge and illumination bulb grounds into a single wire going to the ground wheel next to the steering column. This weekend I created a dedicated ground for the gauge and now the needle holds steady at all times.

Temp gauge reading:

Temp gauge reading with headlights turned on

Before the 242 disappeared into thin air, I had a trip planned for the Weekender to pick up a dozen Volvo alloy rims from someone clearing out his garage near Sacramento. One of the wheel sets are the exact 16” rims I have been looking to upgrade my 240 wagon into. The only vehicle in the fleet with the capacity to handle this many rims/tires at once is the Weekender. Yesterday, schedules aligned to enable a drive to pick them up after clearing a 4-hour window. As morning rush hour starts to die down, start up the van and head for the Bay Bridge. The drive is actually faster than I anticipate as the Weekender rolls along without a care in the world. Arrive at the pick up location and 10 minutes later all of the rims sit inside the van. Now being ahead of schedule, contemplate taking a route which is not the maelstrom called I-80. Namely the scenic River Road through the Sacramento Delta region. Not knowing what other hazards or delays might crop up, grit my teeth and jump onto 80 West. End up pulling off to check out the signage overlooking the ruins of the once majestic Milk Farm. This is a favorite landmark along the corridor to San Francisco. The return trip home is thankfully uneventful and swift. While sitting in the usual traffic back up coming off of the Bay Bridge into the city, realize this is the longest trip (175 miles) I have driven in the Weekender. It has certainly become a strong and steady steed since originally picking it up as a project.

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[samba415]

Bump for great vans and wee cars that can get their owners juiced on California twisties. Always a pleasure to read your posts.
_________________
Old stable: '63 Baja, '69 Square, '72 Bug, '65 & '67 Samba, '73 412 wagon & 2dr 4spd

Current: '04 Golf TDI, '03 Weekender

[Saturn]

Yesterday:
Started the process of waking up the 1995 Eurovan out of hibernation in preparation to attend car week in Monterey, CA/Laguna Seca Racetrack. The van has been sitting at my friend Alex's driveway for the last year with it being periodically started and moved when shuffling cars.
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Start the van with no issues, engine fires off pretty much immediately. Let the engine idle while I do a quick inventory of the gear/supplies/items inside the van. After about 12-15 minutes, the engine begins to exhibit momentary drops in idle speed then quickly recovers. Several minutes later the engine completely cuts out. Restart the engine with no issues though after the 3rd time of it suddenly dying, notice the tachometer is not registering/working.

Take position in the driver’s seat to carefully observe what is happening with the instrument cluster, Get the van restarted and push down on the gas pedal to revving the engine. The tach needle remains at 0 for a little bit and then after a bit starts to register RPMs. The next time the engine stumbles, catch a quick flash from the Check Engine light on the dash. Since it does not get triggered to stay on, feel this is an indication of low voltage happening. At one point the tach starts swinging wildly and ends up pegged to the far right of the gauge face. Shut the engine off and the needle stays there. Pound on the top of the dash several times and it slowly retreats back to the 0 position.

Today:
Restart the eurovan with no issue, it runs for 2-3 minutes then suddenly cuts off. Restart the engine and decide to take it for a short test drive. Make two laps around the neighborhood park (probably just about a mile in total. Twice during this trip I feel a quick hesitation/cutting out, though the engine stays running. Head out to a gas station about a mile away to put some fresh gas in the tank. After five gallons of 91 Octane is onboarded, start the return leg.

Driving about a ½ mile up a shallow grade hill and just passing one of my favorite neighborhood dive bars, the engine completely cuts out. Still moving, I attempt to bump start the engine with no joy. With my momentum slowing and coming into an intersection, spot a parking spot across the street. I am able to dodge oncoming traffic and mostly turn into the empty space. Crank the engine and it continues refusing to start. After several attempts the engine seems to be spinning faster than normal. Call my friend Alex to let him know the van has flatlined and he grabs some tools before heading over. Check the FI fuse (#18) to find it intact. Attempt another restart and the engine fires off to my relief. Waste no time in getting back moving and over to Alex’s which is about a ½ mile away. Pull into his driveway and keep the engine idling to see what happens. It runs for another 2-3 minutes before abruptly cutting off again and after 5-6 attempts still will not restart. Pull the line to the fuel rail and into a glass jar. Turning the key, gas pumps into the container at a healthy rate. At this point realize it is most likely electrical or ignition. Clean up the positive battery terminal and still does not start.

My initial list of suspects:
- Ignition Switch (changed this last year after a couple non-start occurrences)
- Crank Position Sensor (has not been changed out in my ownership, one on order)
- Coil (have not changed this in my ownership)
- ECU (original)

Tomorrow:
Going to head back over with a timing light, spare ignition switch and coil and multimeter. Also realized while the Check Engine light has briefly illuminated it hasn’t been fully activated during any of this. Assembled some video clips of the engine having issues staying running, the tach acting wonky and the "normal" and "fast" cranking.

Any ideas/comments/conjecture of what is happening here is appreciated.

Link

[TheOneTrueQuux]

It sure seems like a possible fault with the hall sensor, or possibly the fuel injection relay.

[Saturn]

[TheOneTrueQuux]

[wannabecamper]

I had a similar experience with engine cutting out immediately when warm. I replaced the hall sender and the ignition coil. The problem has been resolved, but don't know exactly what was the true cause. Coil is an easier fix. Try that first.

[Saturn]

During the afternoon I am able to spend some time in diagnostic mode on the EVC. Grab some spare parts on hand such as a distributor cap, rotor, coil, and ignition switch and head back to the can. Before changing out anything, attempt to start the engine so see if letting it sit for almost 24 hours did anything. Want to see this might be a heat soak related problem, but alas it is not. (Note: After each time working on a particular part or sub-system, a start attempt is conducted but is not noted for a bit of brevity.) Remove the FI relay (167) and replace it with a spare unit. Pull the fuel line again and gasoline surges out at a healthy rate. Next up is cleaning the negative battery post and clamp, something which was not done the previous day. Inspect the distributor and rotor. While these exhibit slight wear, install brand new ones in their place. An unfortunate oversight is not grabbing a timing light, I do have a in-line spark tester along. Check for spark on #1 cylinder and from the coil, the tester does not illuminate at all.

One thing I do note is the battery seems to be on the low end, resting at 12.2V. Speculate if the issue could be from not enough voltage for the ignition system. Break out a jump pack and connect that to the battery terminals with no change. Next up, attach a 50A battery charger/starter to the terminals.. Checking the progress with a multimeter, the battery is taking its sweet time to recharge. It takes 10 minutes for it to go from 12.99V to 13.05V. Leave the charger on for an hour where it climbs to a reading of 13.25V.

In the meantime, break out the Bentley book to begin checking the camshaft position sensor and the coil (F28-35 & F28-36). Unplug the connection at the distributor to see if at least 10V is present with the ignition on (key in the #2 position) At first I am unable to get a reading on the multimeter. Try several more times due to the small size of the female connectors, then start to see 12V on the display. Check the resistance values on the coil and the book states primary resistance should be 0.5-.7 ohms. The reading I see is .8 ohms. Verify this with a brand new coil which reads .9 ohms. I am taking this variance as stemming from the sensitivity of the multimeter I am using and not a bad coil. The secondary resistance reading is 3K ohms which is in specs (3-4K ohms.) according to the Bentley book. After an unsuccessful restart attempt, inspect the timing belt to find it is fully intact and spinning the engine. At this time put the charger on the 10A setting to let it sit overnight and it is time to call it a day.

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[dsh1705]

[Saturn]

Have some availability in the afternoon to resume working and diagnosis on the EVC. The battery seems to be pretty well charged after leaving it on the 10A setting for the last day. This time remembering to bring a timing light, and testing both a spark plug wire and the lead from the coil. Still there remains a lack of electrons heading to the distributor. Unplug the main connector into the coil and see if there is incoming 12V, something I neglected to perform the day before. Break out the new coil to switch the plugs onto it from the current unit. Again no flashing from the timing light. (dsh1705: This is something I had on my to-do list.)

Head into the cabin to remove the plastic housings around the steering column. Putting those off to the side, remove the connector on the back of the ignition switch. Plug the connector into a spare switch and turn it with a screwdriver. This timing light continues to stay dark. After reinstalling the plastic trim, visit the fuse box to inspect every fuse. All of them are fine, none are blown. The one positive aspect during all of this, I am able to figure out why the USB power ports are turning off intermittently. Wondering it this might be a symptom of something with the ignition system, but it turns out to be a loose connection in the engine compartment. Another possibility is the EVC has a fob-based disabling system installed. I usually never remove the fob, but need to see if that is impacting the ignition system. Took a cursory look at it while checking the ignition switch, but not sure it is even hooked up.

Right now I am feeling the issue is with the Hall sensor in the distributor or the ECU. This leads to a couple questions:

- Could the 1993 Weekender’s ECU (AAF) be used to test the ignition system on the 1995 EVC (ACU)? Would this damage or brick the 1993’s ECU?
- Same for the distributor?
- Any other component(s) I should be checking?

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[TheOneTrueQuux]

[Saturn]

[mikemtnbike]

Chasing istarting/running issues on my 95, Saturn, so super interesting post, thanks for sharing and maybe it's something like this for me. Going camping without Marzivan this weekend , will probably post a new thread next week with my issues, but the above gives me some more geese to chase at least- although I have spark and fuel.
_________________
1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual