Glad you got it fixed.   Hope you went to Rikwihr !!
 
cheers,  Steve
 
 
In a message dated 6/2/2008 5:12:13 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
poppie.jagersand@YAHOO.CA writes:

Hi,

An update on the (resolution of) mz engine troubles in  Europe
and return to with the 85 Westy.

Those of you who suggested a  fuel supply problem were right
on. Finally at one point I could hear how  the fuel pump was struggling
to build pressure even before  cranking.

What made it difficult for me to diagnose right was that the  problem
was very intermittent. Sometimes it would get gas, sometimes  not.

Cause was likely tank(s) of bad gas, or old gunk in the gas tank  from
the van sitting over the winter.

Changing the fuel filter, and  running injector and valve cleaner
through it
made the engine run  reliably again.

I am still puzzled bz the low voltage reading at the O2  sensor.
Should it really be in the 20mV range?
I am thinking the engine  may be running a bit rich.

The unplanned stop was stressful for the  SO.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and SO pleased by a visit to  the
fashion boutiques in Strassbourg in France and a tour through  the
pretty villages along route de vin in  Alsace.

Martin

Poppie Jagersand  <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca> wrote:    Thanks to all for 
many  tips.

This morning I took off and measured the ECU wiring  harness
according to Bentley. All checks out ok.

Also  tested O2 sensor with a sigital multimeter. When running it
averages  about 20mV. It varies from 10-30mV going up on acceleration
and  deacceleration, then stabilizes on fixed RPMs.
The low voltage was  surprising to me. The only other gas engine I
worked on (a  Mitsubishi I4 2.6) I recall had O2 voltage at about 0.7 to 1V.
Nevertheless the O2 seems to be unlikely to cause the big stumbling
problem. I tried iwth it disconeccted an no change.

For the  basics: Spark plugs and wires were just changed before the trip.
Distributor cap looked OK, but maybe I should replace that also.
I  have no means to check timing.

Someone mentioned the hall sender  in the distributor. I will look
into that. The Bentley test is that  it should measure Battery voltage minus
1.5 V. Mine was lower than  that. Anothet tip was a rpm limiter/timing advance
control box in  the front right of the engine compartment. I thought that
asvance  was mechanical as usual, so only checked the vaccum lines
Are there  electrical connections for this as well?

Today it ran a bit  better already in the morning. We were able to drive
back from  France to Saarbruecken. I tried filling with different gas
a couple  of times, and maybe this is just my imagination, buit it
seems like  it runs worse after some fillings and better after some.
I also  tried valve and injector cleaner additatives. Not sure if it
was  this that helped or not.

I will change the fuel filter just in case as  suggested. Though when it
runs it will run strongly so I was  assuming it was getting enough fuel.

Another fuel delivery  related  device mentioned in Bentley is a fuel
pressure  regulator. I was not sure how to test this. I have no pressure
tester. The van has had an aftermarket fuel pump for 3000 miles
(This is a US model and VW did�not sell these here.)

I will also  check out mechanics through Thomas Koch.
Though just at the moment  the engine runs right again, so it
will be hard to explain the  problem. (with bas luck it will come
back tommorrow Sat when the  mechs are closed.)

Thanks again,
Martin

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