If the center wire is shorted to the outer shield the ECU will continue
enriching the mixture until it sees voltage which it won't across the short.
Likewise if the ground reference is open, the same effect will happen. A
bunch of grounds are connected withihn the fuel injection harness. The O2
sensor reference is effected by the ground connection for the distributor.
Follow that brawn wire coming out of the distributor harness. A bad crimp or
if it is connected to the base of the oil breather tower (plastic!) can
cause all sorts of grief.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:36 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: 2.1 strange running before and after head gasket repair

The temp II sensor is blue, and the temp  I sensor is black, right? II
replaced the Temp II sensor (blue, right?) as the first thhing when the
engine started acting up. As for the O2 sensor, could the coax give  problem
with the O2 sensor disconnected? I suppose it could, as it's connected to
the ECU and could be giving it a bad value.

Jim

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Richard Koller
<kollerr@helix.nih.gov>wrote:

> Jim,****
>
> This is how my engine ran when the temp sensor II failed.****
>
> In another related case on a different van, the wire from temp sensor
> II was badly corroded under the wire's insulation and finally
> prevented conductivity. Took me awhile to discover this ( It shouldn't
> have because I should have checked the conductivity as a basic
> troubleshooting method at the beginning of my diagnosis ) Also I would
> check the infamous green coax Oxygen sensor wire.****
>
> Hope this helps****
>
> Rick****
>