in addition, to start a flooded engine that has an air flow meter..
even with full throttle held open ..
the mostly closed AFM flapper won't let enough air in .
Sometimes pulling one of those air breather hoses out of the air intake book
will let enough air into to get a start from very flooded. ( or remove AFM )
  Just crank steadily with throttle wide open ( and also  having some way
for air get in past the AFM ) ..
and be ready to let off the gas if when she finally roars to life.

thinking about Temp Sensor II and wiring for it is a natural thing to
consider in a case like this.

Scott
www.turbovans.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Haynes" <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 7:20 PM
Subject: Re: Van won't run right - troubleshooting help, more

> Too much fuel could be flooding it. Un plug all the injectors and then
> crank
> the engine with the throttle open. If it suddenly starts to spit and may
> start you know it was flooded out. Common cause for this is a bad
> connection
> or ground connection for the temp 2 sensor.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> David Hardy
> Sent: Friday, September 30, 2011 1:19 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Van won't run right - troubleshooting help, more
>
> 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.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~