My Aircooled Vanagon: Hated by All, Loved by Buggeee

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

So now, at least, I know what the intermittent problem was. It was probably a bad connection on the TempII sensor, which was new, and I can fix that. Cylinder 3 just happened to be the first to foul out the plug on the overly rich mixture, providing a graciously placed thought-path that finally led to the real issue. This is better than bad injector or AFM or whatever might be possible.

With the engine hot and the TempII lead grounded, all 4 cylinders came on line and it ran like a champ.

So I went to just clean up the connection by splicing in some fresh wire and a connector to replace the corroded, split-covered mess that was there and found that the BRAND NEW TempII sensor was really part of the issue, the lead was just barely together in there, literally falling apart in my hand.

So even with a good connection this was going to be a problem. I emailed this picture to Bus Depot and less than 24 hours later they responded saying the manufacturer was drop shipping a replacement to me. Thank you Bus Depot!

Also, I found that the tin on the cylinder head was slightly interfering with the seating of the TempII sensor. Check this out, you can see the shiny spot where the sensor was stopping on the tin rather than the head:

So I took a clown sized flat screw driver and a Thor hammer and tapped down the edge of the tin so the new sensor will ground properly when it arrives.

My working hypothesis at this point is that the "intermittent" problem was actually a constant problem with "intermittent" symptoms. I think that the difficulties in signaling accurate engine temperature from the TempII sensor resulted in an overly rich mixture that was causing the the plugs to foul as they gasped for combustible mixture under the given circumstances.

So... all together... the TempII connection in the FI wiring harness was corroded, the tin was in the way of the proper seating of it in the head, and the sensor itself was also defective.

I finally hit the Trifecta!!!

That's not a Trifecta? Well, its the closest I'll ever come so I am taking it!

[Epilogue: I had performed the ohms resistance test as per Bentley back when installing everything and... at rest when cold I was getting the correct reading, believe it or not, even with all these issues. They came to a head (no pun intended) on this shake out run.]
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1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[levi]

I'm jealous of your capability to diagnose issues.

My standard approach is to guess at possibilities, and simply "replace and try" one thing at a time. With believed-to-be good parts.

In fact for the last several days I've been employing just this method on my 1.8t, culminating in success a couple hours ago.

Timing belt looks good, everything lined up? Check
Switch out the coolant temp sensor, nope, put the other back in.
Switch out the AFM, nope, put the other back in.
Switch out the crankshaft position sensor, nope, put the other back in.
Switch out the camshaft position sensor, VROOOOM! Looking at the other one I see yellowish buildup on the contact, clean it off, put it back in, good to go.
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One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[Buggeee]

[daroota]

Very nice, looks like I'm a few weeks behind.

FYI on your EMPI muffler, Expect about 1-3 years life out of it, they rust so quickly. (depending on your usage)

Always use a bit of locktight blue on the temp2 sensor (just enough that it doesn't back out while driving) and also on the lower engine tin... I've come close to loosing tin.

Let me know if you need help locating parts, I run the aircooledvanagon group on fb, and we share stuff/knowledge/where to shop.
_________________
1982 Westy-Air Cooled, Fuel Injected, 4 Speed Manual
Air Cooled Vanagon's FaceBook Group:
www.facebook.com/groups/AirCooledVanagon/

[Buggeee]

Well I've been enjoying some progress on the Westy, and put a new battery in the laptop today so time to catch up the ol' build thread a bit.

Bust Depot was good on its word and a new replacement Temp2 sensor arrived in short order.

Here it is snuggled into its new home with a copper washer.

That did help the ECU manage the richness as the engine warmed up and all 4 cylinders kept firing. I took it for a spin for a while and after it cooled down I pulled the plugs. They looked good.

However, it was still hesitating occasionally,jerking a bit once in a while and stumbling at idle. Its misbehavior seemed worse when it warmed up so I decided to just plod through the remaining snippets of the Bentley diagnostic process I had skipped and clean up all the loose ends I could find.

I checked the cold start start valve to see if it was leaking. Here is a picture of me pointing at it, demonstrating my ability to name a new part, which makes me feel a little less ape-like (an illusion).

As I understand it, it works like an injector and sprays extra fuel into the intake chamber for a bit when the engine first starts. I know it sprayed fuel as I had found a bunch in there at some point when I was changing the gasket in the throttle body. What I was curious about here was whether it stopped when it was supposed to. So I unplugged the wires to it (so it wouldn't open), unbolted it from the air chamber, and activated the fuel pump by opening the air vane in the AFM.

With the pump running and the system under pressure, the cold start valve did not leak.

The second part was to see if the signal to it from the wires turned off when it was supposed to. I bolted it back into the air chamber and left the wire unconnected. I plugged a noid light into the wire connector and started the engine. The light stayed on for about 10 seconds or so and then turned off, letting me know that the little thermal switch was functioning. Nothing to see here... move along.

The next think I tested, also successfully, was the Auxiliary Air regulator. This allows extra air into the chamber when cold, to match the extra fuel from the cold start valve I suppose. When warm, it closes. Here I'll quote myself from another thread on that:

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

Here is one place, among many, that I have found pleasure in my metric o-ring set from Harbor Freight.

The o-ring on the case breather was a rock and it really did not provide any seal at all, the breather just stayed in there by gravity. Now its snug.

Details, details. It's the little things that replenish the motivation batteries when the demons are staying one step ahead of me.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Buggeee]

Well, that is a picture of how, eventually, I had been starting the Vanagon. I was starting it a lot as you can imagine from my adventure here.


Earlier in the relationship I thought I had a parasitic battery drain somewhere because occasionally the starter would not engage. I'd roll it down the street and bump start it and everything would be fine. Eventually I figured out it was not the charging that was making it right, it was the shock of the bump-starting. So when it would act up I'd crawl under there with the Thor Hammer and give it a wake up. (Meaning I'd knock it off the grabby grabby of the worn bearing, letting it spin again).

So check this new (rebuilt) starter out! Seems it had been coaxed along as well before getting sent in for its core duty.

This is a picture of my use of Gorilla Tape to hold the bolt in place for me

And, the relaxing view of a fresh starter ready for duty

_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Vanagon Nut]

[Buggeee]

Another satisfying event was getting some heat into the cabin. I'm still working on getting the defrost functioning, and need to replace the cables to the heater boxes too. But for now I have installed the tube that connects the heater boxes to the cabin and have zip-tied the flaps open for the winter.

The part was hard to find. I was going to try a Bay Window tube but that didn't really work out. Luckily, some fine Sambanista gave me the proper part number and I googled one out of France! Ordering a part from a web-page in the French language was fun, as I don't speak it LOL. Here is the rundown as I explained it in another thread:

[Buggeee]

[Stuartzickefoose]

I love how you called it an o2 sensor at first. someone else referred to a ts2 as a o2 earlier today to me. Funny!


On the breather hoses, if your gonna keep this, you should drop the coin on these:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1988499

Lifetime warranty and EXACT fit on a bay engine (not positive on a van) but as you discovered with the accordion tubes, these will rival the original parts in fitment and quality like no other. The elbow you just replaced? Those repop rubbers fail in a year or two. Faster then the empi exhaust. the long hose with a 90* in the pic replaces that perfectly.

He has the S boot as well, but only for a bay, not a vanagon.
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Abscate]

I doubt that the interference of the tin hadanythimg to do with the TSII problem. If I recall its tapered thread and if it firmed up going in the ground would be good. That electrical connection was toast though.


On edit...could have messed up heat transfer parameters, agreed.

I don't think anyone has source code info on the ECU here, but there are many ways to make a resistance measurement robustly communicate to logic circuits, especially on a small number of state systems, N<10

VW Engineers smarter Dan usses monkeys.
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.ssS!

[djkeev]

If my hot air delivery system were full of mouse debris like that, I'd NOT want to be breathing the hot air that comes out!

I would so be flushing the pipes with a cleaner and a sanitizer to remove not only the putrid smell but any chance of virus germs found therein.

I did exactly this in my WBX Vanagon, removed the entire mouse soiled heat system and scrubbed it.
I also flushed out the front crash distribution beam vent while I had the interior out.

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

[jlrftype7]

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

I have read, many times, and agree, without reservation that it is better to be able to stop before being able to go.

So while I had inspected the brakes a bit before rolling this dog around the roads, the parking brake had not been addressed.

Tiring of carrying a brick around in the cabin to use as a parking brake, and as impressive as that is to the onlookers when I apply the brick-brake and release the brick-brake in the parking lot of the grocery store, etc., I decided to address the parking brake.

What I found was actually very interesting and very weird, even for an aircooled world that is full of weirdness. I had never come across anything like this before but another thread turned me on to the underlying issue... which was not the braking system at all. Here I am reporting in on that: