1980 Westfalia Idle Stabilizer - Cali emissions model

[mneumann99]

Hi everyone,

My mother has a 1980 westy that she has been having trouble get running. She has been battling multiple mechanics who haven’t quite gotten it right. Last fall she had a new (rebuilt) engine installed after she was told hers was blown. When she got the van back, she noticed it idling high once it was warmed up. They told her that it was because of the throttle body. She ordered a replacement and I installed it along with the gasket. This did not solve the issue. I began to dig into this more and found the idle stabilizer that can cause issues on the Cali models.

I saw some others that bypassed this module by plugging the wires into each other. I did this while the engine was cold and the van fired right up and sounded great. My next test was to do it once it was idling high… this is where things went wrong. When I plugged the leads together once the engine was warm and turned it back on the timing was clearly off and the van would hardly run. Shoot I thought, so I tried to undo it and just plug the module back in. No such luck, the engine did not go back to normal - warm or cold.

I am looking for suggestions on what to do next to first - undo my screw up.
And secondly, solve what might be causing the high idle. My 20/20 hindsight clearly shows I should have looked into this more before rolling up my sleeves and getting dirty.

Cheers!

[jlrftype7]

Grab a can of Electrical Contact Cleaner from a Parts Store or Amazon. Engine off, unplug the Two Connections at the Idle Stabilizer Module. Spray the cleaner on the exposed pins in both the module and those two connectors.
You may have a poor connection previously when you plugged them back in, due to oxide deposits building up over the years.
Report back with how this goes for you.
_________________
'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

[ALIKA T3]

Pinch the hoses to the stabilizer valve to rule it out.

There's a mechanical gate inside, that's usually the issue with crud and also the heating element could have failed, not moving the gate properly.
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[mneumann99]

I’m not sure this has the hoses/mechanical feature you mentioned? This is an electrical connector that ends up making its way to the distributor.

[mneumann99]

I’m not sure this has the hoses/mechanical feature you mentioned? This is an electrical connector that ends up making its way to the distributor.

[jlrftype7]