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Subject:Re: 85 1.9L died on highway, won't start
From:Aerowolf
Date:Sat, 11 Sep 2004 14:24:00 -0500

I ran the fuel pump (cycled it 4 times), shut off ignition, then went
and unscrewed the bung a little bit.  Fuel sprayed out, not merely
dribbled.  (I had checked the fuel pressure with a gauge within the
past 300 miles, and it was within tolerance.)

Spark... I'll try that.  How far does the spark have to be able to
jump?  (and if it's a spark issue, I presume that since I changed the
wires and plugs less than 500 miles ago, it's likely the coil?  or the
hall control unit?  How would I diagnose something like this?)

Thanks for your help,

-Kyle Hamilton

----- Original Message -----
From: Zoran Mladen <zmaninco@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 10:17:35 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: 85 1.9L died on highway, won't start
To: Aerowolf <aerowolf@gmail.com>, vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com

How do you know the fuel pressure is good?  Did you put a pressure gauge on it?

You either lost fuel or spark.  A bad fuel pump relay will do this -
had it happen to me.

To check spark, remove one spark plug wire from the dist cap and hodl
it so there is a small gap between the cap and the wire.  Have someone
crank it.  You will see spark if there is one.

Z

Aerowolf <aerowolf@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

Hey, everyone, my 85 1.9L died on the highway, and I can't get it to
restart. I'm rather confused as to what the cause might be. (though
I also, just after this occurred, got the replacement AFM that my
boyfriend had ordered from Bus Depot, and swapped it out because I was
a fool and thought that it was the AFM more than anything else.)

The fuel pressure is good. I'm not sure about the timing (and I don't
have a timing light available). What's the best way to check the
spark?

I also just replaced the battery -- the one I had wasn't the right one
for the van, and I'd drained it while trying to restart it. I've run
a couple of attempted-start cycles on the new one, but I've not worn
it down.

What kinds of things have caused other folks' vans to die on the roadway?

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