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Subject:Fwd: What IS Vanagon Syndrome, exactly?
From:Alain Thibault
Date:Sat, 19 Oct 2013 16:57:03 -0700

Allo
Would someone happen to have the VW part number for that harness? 
> Thanks
> 
> Sent from my iPad 2
> 
>> On 2013-10-19, at 16:21, Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> Don,
>> Having read the original reports on this on the list about 10 years ago,
>> this is my take.
>> The term "Vanagon Syndrome' as it was originally used referred to a
>> mechanical vibration of the wiper arm in the AFM causing an intermitant
>> signal to the ECU which then shut down the engine temporarily.  In the
>> cases studied by the reporting engineers, this typically happened after
>> driving for an hour or more at steady highway speed.  That is how it
>> happened to me.
>> The plug-in harness from VW and the "capacitor fix" are two different
>> approaches to a solution.  I believe that the harness from VW contains
>> active components (like transistors), not just a capacitor.  In any case,
>> the idea is to filter the output from the AFM to reduce or eliminate the
>> momentary glitches from the vibrating connection.
>>  When I had a VW engine in my "91 GL, I solved the problem by adding a
>> capacitor. I believe that I used a slightly larger value than the 10 mfd
>> commonly recommended.  Calculation of the RC time constant of the circuit
>> seems to support this.
>> 
>> Larry A.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 10:44 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>  Like the subject says.   I just saw a few posts about a Digifant inline
>>> VW powered vanagon traveling the southwest, like I soon will be doing
>>> again...   He says he's having engine cutting-out problems and someone
>>> suggested he is experiencing "Vanagon Syndrome"..  I've seen this mentioned
>>> often before, but it got my attention this time, since this fellow traveler
>>> seems to be driving a similar Vangaon to mine.   I 'assumed' us inline
>>> drivers were immune from Vanagon Syndrome...but that may not be the case?
>>> 
>>>  Anyhow, forewarned is forearmed...or something like that...and when I
>>> head out around Xmas time to travel the outback west I guess I should know
>>> what this condition might be and how to go about fixing it, should it ever
>>> happen to me in my 84 digifant II with a 93ABA block and 92 Jetta top end
>>> VW inline motor.    Anyone care to outline what this condition is and how
>>> to fix it when out on the road?
>>> 
>>>  I have never experienced any weirdness with my engine management, so
>>> far...(fingers and toes crossed) other than a hinky throttle position
>>> switch and of course the Temp II sensor..I travel with a lot of spares and
>>> wouldn't mind having something for the Vanagon Syndrome, should I ever
>>> encounter it with my rig.
>>> 
>>> Thanks in advance,  Don Hanson
>>>

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