Just wanted to add that there is such a thing as a bad ecu of course,
But I almost never find one.
I've sure never found one as a cause for running rich. 
My 'official wild-ass guess' at this point is that it's not the ecu.

And having a known good used on around to pop on for a quick test is 'the
way.'  
I didn't see attention of ground connections.
Throttle switch adjustment ? 

One thing I am sure of :
"it's just a blockage or leakage of fluids or electrons."

-  and don't' forget 'fluids' does not mean just liquids. It means air,
vacuum, fuel, oil, exhaust etc . 
and - could easily be more than one blockage or leakage.

I seldom find 'one thing' - commonly I find 4 half things and one
significant thing not quite right.
  Scott
www.turbovans.com 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Mark Drillock
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:04 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Running Rich

Please be aware that there are good used ECUs for sale for around $100.
There is no reason to spend much more than that just on a theory that
yours might be bad. They do go bad and yours might be but maybe not. It
only takes about 5 minutes to swap one so a big dollar repair is not
needed to find out.

Mark

Aileen Boyd wrote:
> Hi everyone. Got some great help from some of you before, now am in a
query
> again.
> I brought my 88' Westfalia into my trusted mechanic with a starting
problem.
> He was able to fix that and a few other things fairly easily: i.e. new
> groundstrap, wiring, relay and helped my transmission out :) He then told
me
> that what I thought was an ok running Westy (I've only had it since
> August-my first one) is running rich and overall poorly. He said that with
> the warmer weather it has probably become worse and that is why I may not
> have noticed strongly. I know that it has very low horsepower and idles a
> bit strange sometime and smells like it is running rich occassionally. He
> said he is a bit confused as to why, as it could be a number of things,
and
> can run fine for a few minutes blow some black smoke and then go down the
> tubes again. He is suggesting but hoping it is not the ECU.  If it is do I
> have to replace it or can it be refurbished? Also, I have read a bit about
> the wiring harness that has helped "Vanagon Intermitten Syndrome". Anyone
> else know? Background: I replaced the o2 sensor, cat converter, and muff
in
> Nov. Also new battery, fuel and air filter. 88' Westfalia, Automatic,
> 138,000 miles. Previous owners apparently didn't know how to do even basic
> matienance on any car let alone this one. Thankfully the first owners did
> and salvaged many good things.
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Aileen
>
> --
> If not Peace, then Justice.....
>

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