On Sun, 25 Aug 2002, Larry Alofs wrote:

>
> 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.

I had this happen occasionally on my '75 -- the threads that held the
sensor in were stripped, so it'd vibrate loose.  It'll cause the engine to
stall right out when it gets hot if the sensor comes loose; I think what
happens is with the sensor open the computer reads the engine as cold and
runs too rich a mixture, eventually flooding the engine out.  After you
try shorting it you may have to floor the gas pedal and crank the engine a
bit to flush out the excess fuel.

I know the FI system on the Vanagons is different, though, so I'm not sure
if that's the problem here.

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
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