'83 Vanagon Fuel Injection Retrofit

[JerryvanDaniel]

Help! I am trying to retrofit my '83 Air Cooled Vanagon with FI and the left side of the double relay harness is missing. It looks like the previous owner must have made a "custom" harness with the relay in the picture. I just can't figure out where the wires hook up.

For situational awareness I bought a motor from a guy out of an '82 air cooled Vanagon. It had fuel injection. warped heads but i don't care as i only wanted the FI components off the motor. Right now i think the wire with the blue crimped connector is a ground, the slip connector goes to the coil (+) and one of the other two wires with the large ring connector goes to the starter (+) side. Not sure about the plastic rectangular housed male connector though. Also, you can see on the old engine where the relay was mounted on the back vertical engine tin. The length of the wires indicate i think that one is a ground, one goes to the coil pack, one maybe to the starter and the other one i dont know. If anyone can help please chime in!

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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[JerryvanDaniel]

The image i forgot to post in my original thread of the vertical engine tin with the mounted relay at the original mount location. You can see that the one yellow wire with the blue crimped ring connector is a ground. The other wires were disconnected when i purchased the engine but the length of the wires make it seem like one of the wires connected to the + terminal on the coil pack, one was a ground like i previously mentioned, one might have been connected to the + terminal on the starter and the other rectangular male connector i don't have a clue where it would go. Please assist!

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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[danfromsyr]

that relay fastened to the tin was (most likely) a DIY version of a HOT START relay for the starter. unrelated to the fuel injection.

this page may help in your double relay mystery
https://www.ratwell.com/technical/DoubleRelay.html
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[JerryvanDaniel]

danfromsyr,

you are probably right. I have a hot start relay already installed along the firewall. The odd thing about the injector relay wiring harness is its supposed to be part of the larger bundle wiring harness coming from the ECU. I don't want to slice open that plastic outer cover if i don't have to to see if its been cut somewhere along the length but i may have to. I'll do a little more investigating in the next week when i have time and report back my findings.
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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[danfromsyr]

you can use a multi meter and probe the ends w/o cutting the outer sheathing.
that will only tell you if the wire has continuity though and not if it is compromised.
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[MarkWard]

I don’t have the manual in front of me, but the connector missing from the factory double relay is not part of the ECU harness. It has colored wires. I’d have to have the wiring diagram in front of me to pin it out. And yes, part of the relay probably died and the PO added something
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[JerryvanDaniel]

MarkWard,

Thanks for that. They must have needed whatever was added when they sold that whole motor to me in tact because it was the only thing that was missing. The injectors are definitely not squirting fuel so hopefully that harness is all i need to replace. Fingers crossed. I'm going to do some more digging this next week.
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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[danfromsyr]

the plug you are missing is supposed to be on YOUR vehicle.
the vehicle side plug was probably cut when the FI was removed by your PO.

the link I provided to Ratwell's site above has ALL OF THE PINOUT DESCRIPTIONS YOU NEED TO CONNECT IT BACK IN..
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[JerryvanDaniel]

danfromsyr,

The PO of my Vanagon had converted to carbs and subsequently removed all of the components including wiring harnesses related to FI. When i purchased the new engine and pulled the FI components off to stick on my engine the only thing missing was that harness. Unfortunately i can't make sense of the diagrams on the ratwell site even though i love reading ratwell tech articles. I'm checking with a local shop in town to see if they have a harness on hand they will sell me.
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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[danfromsyr]

from your pic above you need to connect (sure a harness plug would be nice but not necessary) wires to

Here are the actual terminal numbers and the components they are wired to:

pinouts

86a - Starter (this is the starter wire from the KEY so it knows you are CRANKING the starter over, this WILL allow the double relay to trigger the FUEL PUMP while cranking)
88c - Aux air regulator (power to AAR), could even be left out/off it will run (poorly) without it
88d - Fuel Pump (power TO the fuel pump)
88y - Battery +12v
88z - Battery +12v

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[JerryvanDaniel]

Danfromsyr,

This may sound stupid. But my momma always said that no question was stupid (said in a The Waterboy accent). However I found the wiring harness and there’s a thick gauge red wire probably 8 gauge that from the pin out you provided went to the battery. It’s only about 3 feet in length though on the wiring harness. That won’t reach to the battery compartment. So should I connect it to the coil pack + terminal? It’s got a ring connector on it.
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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues

[sjbartnik]

sounds like it went to terminal 30 on the starter (which is electrically the same as connecting it to the battery).
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[JerryvanDaniel]

SOLVED:

So there was a connector that looked OEM on the left hand side wiring harness. It had 3 wires going to it. They were as follows:

Relay Terminal Destination Color
86a Starter Red/White (mine was Red/Black)
86c Ignition Coil (+15) Black
88d Fuel Pump (+) Red/Blue

I am sure the wiring is right now. However, the fuel injectors still aren't squirting fuel even though I am getting power to them. The injectors though had sat on an unused engine for a couple years so I'm sending them to MrInjector.com to have them serviced. Thanks for the help from everyone that contributed and suggested possible solutions. Maybe this will help someone diagnose the same problem in the future.

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1983 VW Vanagon Westfalia Aircooled 2.0 ltr

Jerry's always singing the Blues