Thanks Doug. The neg. battery cable was a bit loose. I never tightened it
all the way when I hooked it back up. Thought for sure that must be the
problem, so I tightened it down, and it didn't change anything. My van ran
just fine before I pulled the engine, so I'm pretty sure this has to do with
something not plugged in right. Does the 2.1 have 2 coolant temp sensors? I
know there is the one on the thermostat housing, but I dont remember ever
seeing the other one. Maybe that's not hooked up. I was told that I need a
new Idle Control Unit because my idle is unstable and it goes way up when
the A/C is on. Havent replaced it yet due to the price. Could the ICU make
it run like crap like it's doing now? Don't know, just shooting ideas out
there.

>From: "Doug in Calif" <vanagon@astound.net>
>To: "Mark Seifert" <theburnvictims@HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re:      rebuilt 2.1 runs like crap - can't figure it out
>Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 23:04:36 -0700
>
>Mark,
>The only thing I can think of is connections and fuel.
>Make sure your battery is clean and tight,
>make sure your fuel inj brown ground wires are clean and tight
>make sure your electrical plug fittings in the engine compartment are clean
>you can use contact cleaner or wd40 make sure they all snap together
>properly
>make sure you have no unknown wires hanging
>make sure you have your oxy sens wire hooked up clean and tight
>
>cant imagine the dist gear can cause it but if all else fails get somebody
>with a dist drive puller and put it in proper to be sure its not the
>problem.
>
>After that its air flow meter and fuel injection diagnosis time.
>Get out the bosch manual
>A tool to read the oxy sensor can tell you if rich or lean in the tail pipe
>That can help to sort out fuel injection problems.
>If it ran 6 weeks ago and nobody dumped anything in the fuel and you didnt
>drop any parts or damage them with water etc. you likely have a bad
>connection someplace or something is hooked up wrong.
>clean and check those grounds and the temp sensor connections.
>
>Best of luck,
>
>Doug
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mark Seifert" <theburnvictims@HOTMAIL.COM>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 10:08 PM
>Subject: rebuilt 2.1 runs like crap - can't figure it out
>
>
> > I just rebuilt my 2.1 waterboxer and put it back in my van. I got it
> > running, but it's not doing too well. First problem I had was the firing
> > order. Got that figured out. I think I put the distributor drive shaft
>in
> > wrong, but from what I understand, that doesn't matter because you can
>turn
> > the distributor any way to compensate. Valves were clattering a lot
> > considering all the lifters are new. so I re-adjusted the valves. Two of
> > them were loose. Took care of that quickly. Did a compression test.
> > Compression was good. Pulled injector wires one at a time, but it
>doesn't
> > seem like any one cylinder is missing constantly. Checked the timing,
>and
>it
> > looks good, although the mark bounces around a lot. The problem is that
>it
> > has a rough idle and it hesitates on acceleration and at constant
>speeds.
> > Gas pedal to the floor at 65 mph. The cap and rotor don't look so great,
>so
> > I'll be replacing those tomorrow, but I don't expect it to make a whole
>lot
> > better, because there seems to be a serious lack of power. Hopefully
>someone
> > has a suggestion. My van has been sitting for 6 weeks, and I can't wait
>to
> > take it out on the road again.
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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>

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