On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Tony Moore wrote:

> Hi Volks, 
> 
> Well, the rich running '86 is back :-(  
> 
> The symptoms started to show again as slightly reduced power and gas
> mileage, progressed to hard starting, and further progressed to what seems
> to be a fuel delivery problem. It will start but will take no gas. You can
> sit there with the pedal down for about 15-20 secs, it will slowly come to
> life, billow a bit of black smoke, and then it's ok. I think I can hear the
> fuel pump whining, but I'm not sure I'm being over-sensitive. I pulled the
> plugs (6 month old platinums) and they are BLACK.

Tony:

I missed your original posts, so I don't have the background on what 
happened previously.

>From your description, it sounds like your "fuel delivery problem" 
is......... too much fuel!  :)  Seriously, I'm guessing the problem is 
not in the fuel pump, but elsewhere.

Although the problems you describe could be caused by perhaps a dozen 
different things, don't fall into the trap of "replacing parts" trying to 
fix it.  It's just too expensive for the DIY'er, although shops can 
probably justify this approach because of high labor costs.

Get yourself the following:                                    Approx cost.

    1) the book "Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management" by
       Charles O. Probst                                           $20
    2) a modern multimeter                                          30
    3) a fuel pressure gauge                   (homemade)           13
    4) a test light                            (homemade)            1
                                                                    --
                                                                   $64
                                                                   ===
and you're in business!  (You probably spent more than that if you 
replaced your fuel pressure regualtor - was it really bad?)

Also, I'd suggest reading the archives.  Dan Houg has posted many, many 
articles about FI problems and fixes (his Vanagon was running very rich 
too) which can be an education in and of themselves.  Get a cup of 
coffee, go to the archives and type in "Houg" as your search word, and 
start browsing.  An hour later you'll have a pretty good understanding of 
many of the common FI problems.

If you do read the archives, it'll dawn on you that a not-uncommon cause 
of FI problems (specifically, rich running) can be poor electrical 
contacts in the sytem - either bad grounds or other electrical 
connections.  Since your post suggests these problems sort of "crept up" 
on you, this could be the first place to look.  It's cheap too!

Good luck.

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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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