Mike and all,

Shooting in the dark here but could this be caused by
a malfunction in one or both of the relays located in
the engine compartment relay box?  I've always
wondered the relays' potential for malfunction,
"living" in the harsh environment back there. I does
seem, while one relay controls the fuel pump, the
other controls the ECU, ect . . . all leading to
momentary no-go if they do not supply the juice
needed.

--- Mike Finkbiner <mike_l_f@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Volks-
>
> I just sent in a long post about concerns with my
> recently installed
> re-built engine.  Another problem that has cropped
> up is certainly not
> related to the engine itself, but to the control
> systems, so I am posting
> this separately.
>
> Last fall I had an episode where I was driving down
> the road, and the engine
> just cut out for an eyeblink.  It did that several
> times one afternoon.  I
> noticed once that the tach needle dropped a lot, but
> each time it was too
> brief to look at the gauges or the digitool
> readings.
>
> Joel Walker and another helpful soul suggested that
> the ECU might be
> grounding against the bolt on the westy back seat,
> so I taped over that.  It
> happened once more, and then not again over the
> winter.
>
> After I put my new engine in, I put about 800 miles
> on with no cutting out
> problems.  In the last month, however, on a couple
> of short road trips, it
> has happened several times.
>
> In both cases I drove 60 miles in the morning with
> no problems, and then in
> the evening coming back, I had three or four
> episodes where for an eyeblink,
> the engine cut out.  Yesterday I was driving with my
> lights on, and noticed
> that when it happened, the digitool lights would go
> off, and the tach needle
> would drop a lot. The dash lights and radio stayed
> on.
>
> With the engine running I have tried -
>
> tapping on the case the ecu is mounted in with a
> hammer
> wiggling the wire connector to the ecu
> wiggling all of the wires and connections I could
> find in the engine
> compartment
> vigorously moving the key in the ignition
>
>
> Ran fine.
>
> I am considering -
>
> Only driving in the morning
> Replacing the ECU with my spare (unfortunately not
> set up to connect to the
> digitool)
> Finding more connections to wiggle
>
> It doesn't look like it's the main power system, or
> the dashboard lights and
> radio would have cut off.  Last year I went through
> all of the grounds I
> could find, cleaned the connections and applied
> connector grease, so it
> could be a ground problem, but I don't think so.
>
> Is there a relay I should check?
>
> Any other suggestions?
>
>
> - Mike Finkbiner
> '87 Westy
> Moscow, Idaho
>
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=====
Darrell Johnson
Mission Viejo, CA
1990 Vanagon Carat
(w/LT27X8.5-14 Dunlops)

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