John
I had a similar problem on my '82 that drove me crazy for months. The problem turned out to be a flaky relay on the engine firewall. This relay provides power to the ECU, injectors and coil as I recall. Let me know if you need further detail and I'll look it up.

Gary

>John Brush wrote:
>>
>> Sigh! 81 Air Cooled, FI, half a tank of gas......
>>
>> Mostly just because there is no one to tell around here, I will take
>> advantage of the community and express my frustration.
>>
>> Last weekend, I had to tow my van home after the no-start, and when it got
>> back home, it started right up.
>>
>> Got some good advice and support from you folks, and checked out the
>> suggestions.
>>
>> I did a compression check, 100-110, not great, but its been like that for
>> at least two years. Plugs are fine, I haven't checked the fuel pump
>> pressure yet. All I did was several attempts to isolate the fuel lines
>> from the engine, by moving, and wrapping them in foil.
>>
>> Hadn't driven the van since, so today I figured I would take it for a
>> drive, and come home without stopping anywhere and see what happened.
>> However, when I saw the fresh corn for sale a mere mile from my house, I
>> thought I would stop and get some. Took not five minutes to get there,
>> five to get the corn, and it won't start.........
>>
>> Its only around 85 degrees today.
>>
>> I walked through the supermarket across the way for about fifteen minutes,
>> and then went back to give it a try. Started, idled for a few secs, and
>> then died with the same symptoms, which are cranking, and no sign of any
>> ignition.
>>
>> Not sure what to do next, or what to look at. Just very disapointed with
>> it.
>>
>> Got a little over half a tank of gas. When it was running, it ran great.
>> No indication of timing or other problems. Ran like it always does.
>>
>> I cannot convince myself it is related to vapor lock as it didn't run for
>> ten whole minutes before I shut it off. Its only about 85 degrees out
>> today.
>>
>> Plus, I walked home without the damn corn, and now I don't have it to eat
>> while I wait a few hours to go back and get the van! :-)
>>
>> Anyway, guess I will AAA it over to my mechanic and will report back what
>> they find. I did look at the cost of a new fuel pump and wasn't too
>> thrilled about that :-)
>>
>> John
>
>Had a similar problem on a 411 I once had.  Turned out to be the temp
>sensor on the head.  Sometime they become an open circuit when hot, and
>then when the engine cools things seem OK again.  Next time it fails to
>start or stalls, take the wire from the computer that connects to that
>sensor and connect it to ground.  It should run this way if the engine
>is warm, but would be hard to start cold.
>
>good luck,
>Larry A.
>

--
Gary McEachern
Reading, Ma
'90 Westy Subavanagon
'86 Wolfy Subavanagon
'87 Syncro (Son's van)

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