Intermittent Stall at Red Lights

[metalforever]

Intermittently, my vanagon stalls (engine turns off but it can be turned back on easily) at idle at red lights. I have been seeing the battery indicator light off and on. It is mostly on when the car just starts and it turns itself off after a few minutes. I recently, in the past 3 months, had the cars alternator replaced at a good vanagon specialist . I saw previous owner also replaced this around 2021. I am not sure if this is the issue. The car was sitting for a year because it had a lot of issue, I just got it running via the garage. I got a battery replacement but haven't put it in because car was sitting. It doesn't get cold here. I am not that handy but would like to save money on another mechanics trip if thats ok, so a quick indication on whether special tools are needed for the fix would help.

It's an automatic 1984 .

Thank you for helping me.

[zerotofifty]

There is an idle control system that might be wonky, a valve, control unit and associated wires. You might have an intake leak also.
It might be good to know if this stalling happens when engine is cold, full warmed up or at all engine conditions?

Most certainly it is not caused by the alternator.
_________________
Give peace a chance. No American war with Russia!

[Run8Stud]

Two recent alternator replacements coupled with stalling and the battery indicator: something could be loading your alternator beyond normal, causing it to run in a high-amperage state. Perhaps a sneaky short to ground with just enough resistance to not be a direct short.

It would be interesting to monitor system voltage during one of these events.
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John G. - 1987 Westy 2.1 5-Speed

[SCM]

[Californio]

Take it over to Marco at Buslab or Felipe at 523 Rods, they will help you. "Intermittent stalling" is not that easy to diagnose and if you think it might be the alternator, that tells me you're not quite up to speed on this kind of work and so it will take you forever to sort it out. Lots of people here willing to help but it's a steep learning curve on the intermittent misfire stuff.


Felipe, Marco and crew are honest and know Vanagons backwards and forwards.
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1987 Syncro Westy/2.0L Tiico

[metalforever]

[TornadoVan]

I'm not sure how long you've been experiencing this symptom, but on a recent trip from Washington to California and back, I had the same symptom. Driving along highway 101, I hit one of the small towns that had stoplights and at the first one the engine stalled. It started right up, but it did this all the way up the highway at every red light.

I mentioned this to a friend on the phone while I was at a hotel and he asked if I had stopped for gas anywhere along 101 and I said I had. He says "Lemme guess. Hopland Gas and Mart?" and he was right. Turns out that gas station has the main storage tank filler caps in a low spot so when it rains hard water gets into the stations fuel tanks. It had been raining pretty hard that day.

Sure enough, I refilled the tank (almost empty at this point anyway) at a newer Chevron, added a bottle of HEET and a bottle of Techron and the problem went away. Water in the tank, but not so much that it caused any problems at speed.

Try refilling the tank after throwing a bottle of HEET (alcohol) in there. If that solves the problem, I'd change where you fill up at. I'd also change the fuel filter as some of them have paper filters and water can make the paper crumble allowing it to enter the rest of the fuel system.

When I lived in Alaska, this was a HUGE problem due to condensation forming in metal fuel tanks. For that reason, pretty much everyone added HEET with every fill-up.

[E1]

Great opportunity to learn before throwing money at it.

1). Disconnect wires from idle stabilizer attached to left engine bay, attach together, go drive;

2). On that drive, have a parts store load test the battery. If it’s not taking charge and/or showing a low CCA number, it’ll eat alternators. Not talking about battery voltage here.

Those would be my first actions and both are free and fast.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[metalforever]

Thank you for the suggestion.

[metalforever]

[E1]

You’re welcome… does the battery light stay on after starting for a few seconds, or actually *minutes* as you said?

If minutes, load test asap. Maybe the store would test alternator output also (should be roughly 13.3 to low-14 volts at idle), and test battery voltage while idling (should only be within a tenth to a few tenths of a volt less than alternator voltage).

You could buy a multimeter for the alternator and battery at idle tests and we can tell you how to use it if needed.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[metalforever]

It is 1-2 minutes. I have a multimeter. I'll report back. Thank you for helping .

[E1]

Excellent.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[zerotofifty]

Only happens when cold so you say. Well id check the temperature sensor, not the one for the dash gage, but the one used for engine computer. an ohm test will quickly tell you if it is giving the wrong signal or not. When cold an engine requires extra fuel, if the sensor is not indicating cold when engine is cold, that can cause a problem.
_________________
Give peace a chance. No American war with Russia!

[TornadoVan]

[E1]

Lots of good ideas and this could be twenty different things, but you guys may be missing his comment that the battery light is glowing.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[TornadoVan]

[E1]

Your last sentence philosophy is one I use constantly, Thanks for keeping my repetition down!

Agree on the HEET, too.

So far as multiple problems, you know where a Vanagon is with just one problem? The assembly line.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[do.dah]

HEET is wood alcohol, it binds water into a puddle in the bottom of your tank.

ISO-HEET is isopropyl alcohol. It breaks/atomizes water, allowing the tainted fuel to move thru the fuel system and be removed from the tank.

For an experiment;
Get 2 glass jars, pour some fuel in each, then add a few drops of water to each.
Then dribble some HEET into one, and ISO-HEET into the other.

[TornadoVan]