I hate to be the one to tell you this, but roosters don't lay eggs. That
yellow stuff on your face isn't egg.

-- Gnarlie

On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 12:40 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:

> Relating this tale in part to illustrate how blind to the obvious one can
> be sometimes.
>
> Over the winter I noticed the van took more turns with the starter to run.
> Back then I did do the  electrical tests outlined in Bentley to see if some
> sensor or something was awry. But everything was in spec.
>
> B me over the last few weeks the van would sometimes take quite a few
> tries with the starter to fire up. I couldn't make out any real pattern,
> sometimes it would fire right up, sometimes I would have to crank and crank.
>
> If I was forced, I would say it happened more often with the engine warm.
>
> Once started the van ran normally, good power etc. I wasn't happy with the
> idle though, seemed rougher than normal.
>
> So the last few days were spent tracking the problem down. I checked fuel
> pressure and all tests passed. I checked spark plugs and replaced 2 year
> old plugs with new. Checked distributor rotor and hall sensor. Checked the
> D15 connection at fuse panel ( I had fixed that a while back). Lucky I did
> pull the fuse panel as I found a very iffy connection at my low beam relay.
>
> Then I went at the connection box in the engine compartment, left hand
> side. My van had the bbw46 heater installed. I had pulled the nonfunctional
> heater unit and plumbing but the wiring was still in place. The heater
> system has two fuses and a big relay in that box which made the box even
> more of a rats nest than normal. I checked the connections, black wires,
> that feed the coil, idle system heater, and ecu relay. The wiring to the
> connections was hard and the connections didn't look good. I cut back and
> replaced the spades.
>
> All of the above did not fix the problem. Of course at that point I was
> cursing myself for not making one of Mark's test wire set ups. If I had I
> think I would have saved myself a lot of trouble.
>
> I had my wife crank the engine and I measured voltage to the coil. I
> wondered if there was a voltage drop problem during starting. Well it was
> more than a voltage drop, it was a voltage absence during starter cranking.
>
> I was stumped, I didn't see the obvious. While I was thinking, I cleaned
> out the idle valve with brake cleaner.
>
> We have this hard to capture rooster that has taken to roosting at night
> under our bedroom window. So I was up at five this morning. And them it
> occurred to me, the ignition switch.
>
> I got out a spare, and plugged it in to the steering column plug and
> turned it with a screwdriver. Engine started up immediately. Tried it again
> and again, engine started. Man, did I have egg on my face. I have replaced
> a few vanagon ignition switches over the years but overlooked it this time.
>
> Alistair
>