1982 2.0 ABA swap blowing blinker fuse

[rooncicle]

New to the forum, so I apologize if there are other threads that discuss/solve this. Also not electrically savvy.

I purchased an '82 in early October that the previous owner had swapped in a 2.0 ABA from a 97 Golf. The PO seemed to know what he was doing, so I'm going to chalk this up to my bad luck with old cars (just ask my '74 BMW).

After a couple of days of having it, the van stalled on me at ~40 mph. I traced the issue back to a blown fuse and after popping in a new one, I was good to go. The PO was surprised because this had never happened to him after all the years of ownership. Fast forward to a couple days ago, I blew the same fuse while getting onto the freeway.

In addition to the fuse blowing, over the past couple weeks the cold idle became progressively more rough, even stalling when shifting from 2nd to neutral. Once warmed up, it wasn't as noticeable - maybe the slightest shudder.

The cat was removed during the swap so the post cat O2 sensor doesn't really do anything, but I've seen in other threads mention of a faulty O2 sensor causing shorts. Not sure if that would still be the case with all the emissions parts removed.

The pump seems to be properly grounded to the frame. I ran through each fuse to see what they corresponded to and found that the fuse being blown is for the blinkers. Again, forgive me for my lack of electrical knowledge, but what's weird to me is that when the 8amp fuse blows, the whole van dies, but pull the fuel pump's 25 amp and the blinkers still work.

Hopefully this is enough information to go off of.

[Vanagon Nut]

What number (position) stock fuse is blowing?

Did the PO wire in a new (25 amp) fuse for the fuel pump and possibly another
fuse for the ABA engine management?

If you remove the blinkers fuse that is blowing does the engine still start?

Im familiar with the OBD 1 (one o2 sensor) ABA swap but would suggest
that a missing pre or post o2 sensor shouldn't by itself cause a stall.

The rough running and outright stall at speed could be related or not.

The stock fuse blowing could be due to separate unrelated reasons. Or....

Theory: if someone intended to connect the [edit fuse or fuses for the] ABA
swap engine management
and vanagon fuel pump to an open spade connector on the supply side of
a stock 8 amp fuse but instead connected it to an open spade on the load
side, this might be the issue.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA
(VW Gas I4)

1988 Westy DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[MarkWard]

A slow blowing fuse would indicate not a short, but too much load. When adding accessories or engine conversions it’s common to add on to existing bat power and key on power leads. Your going to need to search it out. The PO if they did the conversion would be your resource.

On my conversion I added a power relay in the engine compartment to take all the load off the ignition switch. The switch just operates the relay now. For someone familiar with the VW wiring diagrams could quickly pinpoint what the problem is.

The 82 had the ceramic fuse type box and did not have fuses larger than 16 amps. The fuse box is not rated for higher amp draws. Good news it’s a much simpler design to understand.

[rooncicle]

[rooncicle]

[rooncicle]

The PO has been pretty responsive and helpful with problems I've ran into, but I don't want to wear out my welcome, so to speak. Anyway, when you buy these old cars, it's on you to get to know it and how to fix it, right? I just wish I had a mentor. Any volunteers?

[dkoesyncro]

At this point you've decided to farm it out, I've had my share of ABA and have recently made another ABA management re-do. I can't figure what the PO may have done, although I've seen cases where the fuse block is bad and causing weirdness? Have you dropped the fuse/relay panel and checked the in/outs

I'd like to help but I'm stumped here!

[Vanagon Nut]

[rooncicle]

The fuse panel got completely torched around 6 months after this post. There was a short in the heater circuit that caused the panel to melt which allowed two fuses to touch. It couldve been catastrophic, but luckily the van didn’t burn down.

Found a mechanic that rewired the front electrical with new relays and a more modern fuse panel. Good to go for the most part. There’s still a short causing a fuse to blow, but it’s isolated on its own circuit and doesn’t cause a failure of anything else. Funally able to hunt down the culprit.