Irregular non-starts 1984 Vanagon

[grittycereal]

Lately my 84 has been irregularly deciding when it doesn't want to start after parking. 1 time out of 20 I would go back out to the van and have to crank hard for 5 or 6 seconds (5-6 times) before it would slowly but surely start back up and then it would act like nothing ever happened the rest of the day. Well yesterday after a short 2 mile drive, came out of the store and it decided not to fire back up, tried and tried with breaks in between in case the engine was too hot, till the battery finally died. I got towed home, charged the battery, and sure enough, started right up like nothing happened today. I'm at a loss on how to further troubleshoot this, especially when it's parked somewhere and it won't start up. Super frustrating.

I put on a new OEM fuel pump and filter a couple weeks ago

I replaced the coil wire which solved the bucking, stalling, and getting up to speed problem I had.

I put in a new coolant sensor a year ago that solved the problem of it not starting after the engine gets hot, could that temp II sensor be going bad? Coil going bad?

Initial thoughts? Thank you!!

[jlrftype7]

When you're back to a No Start condition, find out if you're missing Fuel, Spark, or something like that. Could be a ground issue, relay, wire loose at the coil, Ign switch not working correctly, etc. Once you rule out what you're missing, you trace back.
Another sneaky one is cracking/breaking wires of the Hall Effect Unit inside your Distributor.
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'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

[Ahwahnee]

The list of suspects is long but I would certainly interrogate (test) the Temp II sensor as it sounds like your problem may be temperature related.

[Hammy1]

I once had random no start issues when the engine was hot. It would fire right up after sitting for about 15mins. When it was in a no start situation I did as jlrftype7 suggested. I discovered I wasn’t getting fuel when warm. It ended up being a worn fuel pump relay in the black box. Replaced that relay and it’s been good for the last 7 years.

Regards,
Jon h.

[brickster]

As said, test the temp sensor at the computer connection. I would also test fuel pressure.

ProTraining manual in the FAQ has all the info you need to do these tests.
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1984 Campmobile Automatic

[E1]

Make sure all the connectors on the coil are solid.

Clean, and delicately crimp the female connectors to get a tighter connection. Be careful to not crimp so hard that you ruin them, have new connectors at the ready in case you do.

Same with the connectors to the black box containing the two relays. It’s easy when pushing the relays on that the connector gets pushed off, if ever so slightly.
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1984 Westfailure/2.1 Digijet/5.43 Ring & Pinion/Peloquin/D-rated BFG KO2s
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