Yup...
Been there too. I hope all who experience the "running
too rich blues" check the archives...this is a bitch
of a problem...yet easily solved.
Kevin

--- Vanagon man <vgonman@MSN.COM> wrote:
> I have done this same fix and it solved my problem,
> too.
>
>
> Adam P
> 81  Westy "The Brick "
> 70 Single Cab "Whitey"
> 74 Beetle "Ol Yeller"
> 73 Transporter (STILL at paint shop)
> 1988 Vanagon Wolfsburg
> 1976 Transporter (New CA bus)
> 75 Campmobile "for sale'
> Used Vanagon Parts for sale (mostly aircooled)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Laurence Smith" <laurence@ALANASMITH.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 12:25 AM
> Subject: Re: The end of the road (86 westy runnin'
> rich) - LONG STORY
>
>
> > Well John, I've been where you are.  I know it is
> awfull.  My Westy was
> down
> > from Oct 2001 - Feb 2002.  5 months of frustration
> and a lot of money.  I
> > changed every Digifant component.  I was trying to
> solve a very serious
> rich
> > running condition.  My symptoms were exactly the
> same as yours.  It would
> > run fine until warm and then belch out black
> smoke.  The oxygen sensor
> > voltage readings were extremely high - nothing
> near the 0.5 volts +/- 0.3
> > volts.
> >
> > My Westy is a 1990.  I got out the Bentley, yet
> again, and said I am going
> > to find and check all those grounds again.  I had
> already resoldered new
> > eyelets on all of them - or so I thought.  Anyway,
> there was one ground
> that
> > I had missed and it was the one I told you about
> in a previous email.  It
> is
> > the one attached to the left head.
> >
> > Anyway, I went out to account for all 7 grounds
> and could only find 6
> coming
> > off the harness and all went to the firewall.  I
> couldn't find the one
> that
> > goes under the intakes, on the head.  That is, I
> couldn't find it coming
> off
> > the harness anywhere.  So then I assumed that the
> previous owner had cut
> it
> > out the harness (but how would the engine run okay
> as long as it did? - I
> > asked myself).   I couldn't find it coming out of
> the harness so I thought
> > it was just sniped back flush with the harness
> when the heads were done a
> > few years ago.  I was to be proven wrong, but I'll
> get to that later.
> >
> > I was out of ideas.  I had already changed every
> Digifant part, some of
> them
> > twice, the AFM three times (god)!.  So I decided
> that I will replace that
> > "missing" ground by running a new one wire from
> terminal 19 on the ECU
> (see
> > Bentley diagrams).  At the ECU connector I pulled
> back the rubber boot and
> > found the brown wire coming off the terminal 19.
> I cut into the
> insulation
> > (didn't cut the wire) and carefully spliced in a
> new ground wire.  I ran
> the
> > wire back to the engine and terminated it on the
> little tab on the
> > distributor housing.  Fully expecting yet another
> failure, I started the
> > engine, waited for it to warm up and, and ... it
> ran fine.  No more black
> > smoke and terrible stumbling!  The O2 readings
> were also good at 0.5 volts
> > fluctuating about +/- 0.3 volts.
> >
> > To test my ground wire fix I took if off the
> distibutor and sure enough
> the
> > rich symptoms reappeared.  I must have done this
> about 6 times.  I was
> > elated!
> >
> > It was the damn ECU terminal 19 ground not doing
> its job to provide proper
> > oxygen sensor readings to the ECU.  Now I know, I
> know, I know, that your
> O2
> > sensor has been disconnected, replaced, sweaked,
> fiddled with ad nauseum.
> I
> > did all the O2 fiddling as well.  But the terminal
> 19 ground wire has a
> mind
> > of its own and doesn't give a damn about the state
> of the O2 sensor.
> >
> > Anyway I tidied eveything up and ran my Westy
> until June 2002.  No rich
> > problems at all.
> >
> > Then I had to do my water pump.  While I was doing
> this I had to run a new
> > small oil cooler pipe under the intakes back to
> the thermostat housing.
> > What's this wire I see?  The elusive ground wire
> from terminal 19!  It
> > doesn't come out of the harness in an obvious
> spot, it branches off the
> > sheath of wires that goes to the hall sender.  The
> connection was in poor
> > shape.  So to make the ECU terminal 19 become
> super grounded, I now have
> two
> > good ground wires.
> >
> > Anyway, that's my story.  I spent a huge amount of
> time and money on this
> > problem and it was a simple ground.  On the bright
> side, I am now a
> Digifant
> > "expert" and have helped several other people with
> identical problems as
> > myself.
> >
> > So, if you have checked out that ground wire and
> the green wires seems to
> be
> > in good shape, my advice to you is to purchase a
> replacement green O2 wire
> > and run it back to the ECU and splice the 2
> coaxial components into the
> wire
> > bundle near the ECU.  VW actually sells just this
> wire because of problems
> > with them internally shorting.  It is coaxial.
> While you're at it, I
> would
> > also run a new terminal 19 ground wire back to the
> engine.
> >
> > If you want to talk to me on the phone please call
> me at home and I can
> > better explain any of these details.  My number is
> (905) 524-5205 up here
> in
> >  Canada.
> >
> > Hang in there!
> >
> > - Laurence
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Laurence Smith
> > Hamilton, ON
> > 90 Westy (fanumbos)
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------
> >
> >
> >  -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List
> [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of
> > john cianci
> > Sent: Monday, October 21, 2002 7:40 PM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: The end of the road (86 westy runnin'
> rich)
> >
> >
> >   Well I guess the saga is coming to an
> end....again thanks for all the
> > help...the westy has been in the shop for close to
> two months now and we
> > still can't fugure out whats wrong...so far been
> through ecu, o2 sensor,
> MAF
>
=== message truncated ===

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