Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
VanagonEuroVan
Subject:Re: 88vanagon-missing
From:John Rodgers
Date:Fri, 29 Oct 2004 06:59:37 -0500

I would definitely go with George on this one. Ignition wires are
immediately suspect. I had this problem on my 63 Beetle, my 69 Beetle,
my '68 Bus, my '85 V-gon, and on my current  '88 V-gon GL. I had to
replace wires on every one of them.

The ignition wires undergo a tremendous electrical pressure - 25,000
volts every time the sparkplug fires - and eventually the insulation
breaks down allowing the electicity to take an alternate route. When the
pressure builds to jump the gap on the spark plug, if there is a weak
spot any where in the insulation or elsewhere, the electricity will
always seek the easiest route to discharge. The result is a "miss". At
first it begins as an intermittant missfire, but as the alternate route
becomes more used, the more degraded does the firing of the plug become,
until eventually you have a dead shorting out of the wire with not
electricity to the plug.

Good luck on your search for this "miss"!

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Rajesh Injety wrote:

>hi all
>as some of you may notice, i am new to the list...
>well here is the problem with my 1988 Wolfsburg
>Vanagon GL
>it is missing a bit.  on start up when cold it will
>miss until it is revved up a few times.  or revved up
>and held there for few seconds.
>and when the motor is under load.  1st and 2nd gear
>are the most noticeable...  once the motor has come up
>to about 2000 rpm's it is fine.
>i checked the plugs and distibuter, both snug.
>i dont think it is the fuel filter, but i have been
>known to be wrong.(ok so i am wrong quite a bit)
>anyways, suggestions would be nice.
>thanks for reading this
>chow
>rajesh
>1988 Wolfsburg Edition
>Vanagon GL
>
>
>
>__________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.
>http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
>
>
>
>

Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »