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Liberty Volkswagen
(605) 343-1000
1101 E. Omaha Street
Rapid City, SD 57702

Developing business and guiding change since 1996,

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Marketing & Communications
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Cooper Jonathan
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 10:37 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: HELP NEEDED ON THE ROAD

I am Nomail and on the road, so please reply to
JonathanRCooper@directvinternet.com

My 85 is acting up. It has a miss or hesitation at load and higher rpm
in all gears. It smoothes out if I floor it. The gas mileage was not as
horrible as when I have had an O2 sensor go bad, and I had more high
speed and climbing "oomph".  It started last night in the rain as a
slight and occasional high speed miss.

Here is the history:

A week ago we had a cracked collector pipe. I noticed a miss and a lack
of power and bad gas mileage. I disconnected the O2 sensor and drove on
about 100 miles. The van ran well but a little rich and gas mileage was
about 15 mpg. When we got to a town we stopped for a better look. I
could hear an exhaust leak. At first I thought it was the O2 sensor
malfunctioning due to a loose exhaust pipe. I tightened the exhaust and
the problem went away for 100 miles. Then it came back. So I figured the
O2 sensor was bad Stopped in Wall SD and bought a NAPA version (all
there was). Problem seemed fixed for another couple hundred miles. At
Badlands, I heard more air leak. I figured that the pipe was loose - but
no. The collector pipe was cracked, right below the O2 sensor. Bus Depot
to the rescue. UPS delivered a pipe to the camp site. I tried to put it
on with the old bolts - ugh. Drove 150 Mi. to a garage with the O2
sensor disconnected. It fried. I bought bolts and put things together in
the Wal-Mart Parking lot. I put in the original O2 sensor. Things went
pretty well from there. Until one of the long coolant pipes cracked. I
had a spare large hose, so with a piece of pipe and some hose and clamps
I got that back together and bled it. It was after that that my wife
noticed a high speed miss.

 I noticed several things:

The connection of the rubber housing to the AFM was loose. The grounds
looked cruddy. My other fixes were holding.

 Here is what I have done.

 (I have a New temp 2 sensor 1 month old. Same with Dist cap. Wires,
rotor, Injector seals fuel lines)

I first put in a new NAPA O2 sensor (again, all there was).

I tightened all grounds and all air and vacuum connections.

The fuel pump was whining and the problem seemed to get better once when
I loosened the "Zip tie" I had used to hold the pump in place) this
"cured things for a while. It acted up again and things got better when
I just "massaged the pump" - its whine decreased several octaves - so I
changed it for my spare.  No more whine but the problem was the same.

I put in, successively, my spare ECU and AFM, with no improvement.

I pulled the plugs and replaced them - prior plugs were about at the 2/3
life point and when pulled were black - looks like running rich. Went
for a test drive - problem still n acceleration and climbing - stumbles
but okay (no stumble when floored. So on a long hill in Lead SD, I
disconnected the O2 sensor again (NAPA no 2). Ands shaazam - things felt
better. But I didn't drive too far. Could it be???? Ideas???? Help. By
the way, it is raining and 40degrees, so working on it is a joy.

Finally, No I have not changed the fuel filter because in the many
stores I have been to, nobody has one

Jonathan R. Cooper

Brzytwa, Quick & McCrystal

900 Skylight Office Tower

Cleveland, OH 44113

216-664-6900 (voice)

216-664-6901 (fax)

Cooper@BQMlaw.com

JonathanRCooper@directvinternet.com

"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the [guts] to
live in the real world."
-Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden