My experience is that the ECUs for the Air Cooled VWs are fairly robust and
rarely go bad.  This is a testament to the quality of their manufacturing
and durability of the day.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the
Wasserboxer Digijet or Digifant ECU's installed at the factory, just take a
look-see in the Archives, especially for the Digifant variety.

That being said, one argument is that the Wasserboxer Vanagon after 24+
years has undergone more useage and more mileage (many over 200K, like mine
fer instance,) by their owners, whereas the Air Cooled variety are usually
parked after they've dropped their first intake valve seat, sometimes for
years as at time for one reason or another.  But like all electronic
devices, they don't last forever.

Case in point, in May 2006 on the way back to Southern California from
Tennessee outside Armarillo, TX, my ECU failed and here was it's symptoms:
Driving along I-40, all of a sudden I get "surging", low power response and
cutting out.  At first I thought, could be a bad plug wire, cracked
distributor cap, loose wire connection, maybe "Vanagon Syndrome", y'know,
all the usual stuff.  So I pulled over, took a cursory check of all the
usual suspects, but everything check out OK and I continued down the
highway.  Started her up and everything ran fine for about 3 minutes, then
the same symptoms occured again, so I had the idea to momentarily turn the
ignition off and then immediately back on, essentially re-setting the start
up parameters on the ECU.  Whaddya know, it ran smooth again for about
another 3 minutes, then the symptoms occured then.  Then I noticed that for
the miles travelled, my gas consumption was going up....a lot.  Pulled over
to fill up in Adrian, TX and noticed the tailpipe was as black as anything
could get, real sooty.  Well, I'd checked evrything, so I pulled the ECU and
changed it out with the spare I always carry.  Changed the almost newly
installed (about 2K ago) 02 Sensor too, 'cause that baby was as black as the
tailpipe (When you live full-time in a Westy, it's wise to carry almost
everything spare parts-wise).  When I filled the tank up there at the
Conoco, I figured my mileage had plummeted to 6mpg!  After replacing the ECU
the smooth running and power returned.  And the mileage resumed it's normal
average.  Had the ECU checked when I got back and yep, it turned out to be
fried.

Now I run the "performance" European 2.1 Digijet ECU supplied by Boston
Bob.  Whadda difference!

OTOH, the ECU in my 411 Station Wagon is the original, still operates like
it should after 37 years!
--
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
***********************************
On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 10:40 AM, Larry Alofs <lalofs@gmail.com> wrote:

> What are the symptoms?  I'm just curious about you diagnosed a bad ECU.
>
> Larry A.
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Brien Dews <vwvanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey All,
> > I've been off the list for the last 8 months due to my hetic schedule. I
> > tried to take my beloved Brown Betty out of storage this weeken and
> > sometime
> > over the winter the ECU gave up the ghost! Man am I bummed. So, I am
> > looking
> > for a good used ECU for a 1.9 injection system. Any help out there in
> > Vanagon land?
> >
> > --
> > Brien K Dews 21CC-AWCI
> > Rockford, MI
> > www.allgoodtime.com
> > www.busesbythebeach.com
>