OK, so now it won't start at all, not even fire. All I get is these  
strange, random puffs out the exhaust, like one every 1-2 secs of  
cranking.

I've swapped in my spare fuel pump; no change. Put in new fuel filter,  
no change. I pulled the injectors on one side and cranked - they ARE  
spraying. There is pressure in fuel lines. Pulled 2 plugs and cranked:  
good sparks. gaps are fine.

I went thru all the tests on the ECU plug on the Bentley. Everything  
checked out. As I said, I swapped in a space ECU; no effect. (also  
swapped out AFM, distributor and coil).

I pulled a valve cover and the valves are moving. The plug wires are  
in the right order and place. Never touched the timing.  I checked  
compression in #4, and it's normal.

So it's getting spark, fuel, air and as compression. I can't believe  
it won't even fire. I thought I knew this engine pretty well, but I'm  
out of ideas.

David

Quoting "Ken Wilford" <kenwilfy@comcast.net>:

> David, the first thing you need to look at is what is happening when it
> won't start.  If it has spark but won't fire then you want to check to
> see if your injectors are spraying.  If they are working then put your
> hand in front of the tail pipe to be sure that the exhaust is getting
> out (no clogged cat) when you crank the van over.  If all of these
> things are working and it still won't start then it is possible that
> there is a sender in the FI system that is causing the van to flood
> out.  Most of the time if this is the case with your van, it is the
> Temp II sensor on the thermostat housing.  You can test for this by
> unplugging it and then using a paper clip to jumper the two prongs in
> the plug to each other.  Now try to start the van.  If it starts right
> up then you know that it is the temp II sensor that has gone bad.  If
> it still won't start, try unplugging the oxygen sensor.  The van will
> run fine without it plugged in and sometimes they can fail and cause
> the van to run super rich (flooded).
>
> If none of these work, I would check your spark plugs for fouling and
> proper gap and also your cap and rotor.  If you go one thing at a time,
> step by step, you will find the problem.
>
> If you need any other help please let me know.
>
> -- 
> Thanks,
> Ken Wilford
> John 3:16
> www.vanagain.com
> Phone: 856-327-4936
> Fax: 856-327-2242
>
> On 9/29/2011 3:56 PM, david hardy wrote:
>> So I have this issue with my '86 Westy that's got me   
>> stumped...yesterday it started missing a
>> tad, then just it quit on me in the middle of traffic (luckily a   
>> block from my house) after
>> running great all day. It would turn over but just not fire. After   
>> tons of cranking I got it
>> started again, but it was running really rough, no power, very   
>> unbalanced, coughs and sputters
>> when trying to rev it. It seemed to go between running perfectly   
>> then terribly every few
>> seconds. I got it home and it's getting spark, fuel pump is working  
>>  (pump runs and there's
>> pressure in lines). Have also have a 1990 Westy, so I swapped out   
>> the AFM (no change), coil (no
>> change), ECU (no change) and the distributor (no change). Funny   
>> thing is, this morning, it
>> started perfectly, but then immediately started running really   
>> rough like before. And now it
>> won't start (no ignition at all) again.
>>
>> I've had this issue a few times before, but it's always cleared   
>> itself up within a minute or
>> two. Now I guess whatever was failing has done so for good. Anyone   
>> have any ideas?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> David
>>
>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Hardy
Planetmind Internetworks
Nedernet, Inc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~