I set the idle as per Bently. I disconected the Idle control unit and
plugged the two together. Then, i turned the screw till the idle was
properly set and replugged everything else together (with the
ignition off of course). Nothing. This made no difference. I was
further investigating and seem to have found that it has nothing to
do with being "warm". If i start the car, it runs and dies. It will
continue to do this untill i give it sustained throttle for 30
seconds or a minute, then it will settle down and idle properly. Now
say i've run it for a while (10 miles at 55mph) then shut it down. I
go into the pizza place to pick up a pizza, lets say it takes like 5
minutes. The engines still warm, when i turn it back on the engine
will register as warm.....but the idle will still be pathetic untill
i give it a little gas, then it will settle back down. I'm fresh out
of ideas. The timing was just set (by ear by a mechanic) which ended
up making a huge difference in the performance of the car, but might
have somehow effected this? There was a vaccuum line loose off the
top of the distributor when i first found this problem
yeseterday....i put it back on.....the problem still exists. Any
ideas would be welcome.

Thanks again!
-craig
'85GL

On Aug 20, 2007, at 2:18 AM, David Kao wrote:

> That's exactly right.
>
> Setting the idle by turning that big screw is critical.
> Turning counterclockwise opens up throttle. Turning clockwise
> closes down the throttle. It's very tricky to set it at the
> right optimal turn. If you are not sure you will want to open it
> up a little than close it down. If you close it down a little
> passing the optimal spot, the idle may appear to be OK around
> 950 RPM but you will lose power needed for acceleration and
> climbing hills.
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Mike Collum <collum@VERIZON.NET> wrote:
>
>> With the 1.9 system, one must remove the two plugs from the idle
>> stabilizer (forward of the coil) and plug them together.  Plugging
>> them
>> together bypasses the idle stabilizer so it won't fight idle
>> adjustments
>> made via the big screw in the throttle body.
>>
>> Don't start the engine until they're plugged together and shut
>> down the
>> engine before you separate them and put them back on the stabilizer.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>>
>> David Kao wrote:
>>> Do a correct idle adjustment following the Bentley manual.
>>> Idle adjustment is critical to not just idle itself. It
>>> has everything to do with acceleration, performance in climbing
>>> hills, smog and gas mileage.
>>>
>>> If there is really a problem the idle adjustment will give
>>> you some hints of what may be wrong.
>>>
>>> There is this fairly large screw in the throttle body for idle
>>> adjustment. This is the one that you really want to set it
>>> correctly.
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>> --- Craig Cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>
>>>> HEY! So they fixed my bus. Its amazing to be back in the sadal.
>>>> BUT,
>>>> i have just noticed a major issue (again). My 1985 runs horrible
>>>> until it warms up. I start the car, it starts right up... and
>>>> then it
>>>> runs HORRIBLE. It will just die, or run like its cutting off and
>>>> on,
>>>> stalls out, but will always fire right back up. Its only rough at
>>>> idle. If i start it and gas it, keep it high for a minute or
>>>> so.....it will warm up and idle fine from there on out.
>>>>
>>>> So i'm thinking my idle may just be set a little low as well, and i
>>>> have a strange feeling this is timing related (is that
>>>> possible?). I
>>>> am otherwise somewhat lost as to where to begin looking. Any ideas
>>>> would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>
>>>> I'll be posting some pictures soon of the interior mods i did. You
>>>> guys will get a kick out of some of them! (Never before done!)
>>>>
>>>> -Craig
>>>> 1985 Vanagon
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
>
>
>
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