My '85 is running better with the O2 sensor disconnected. I have a problem
at idle and when accelerating from a stop when the engine is cold with the
O2 sensor connected. I have tried a generic no name from Napa and then
went to the generic Bosch with wire from an old one. Neither made any
difference.

Any ideas?

Ken Ehlert
1985 Westy

harald_nancy wrote:

> Just on my way to the ocean to escape the heat,
> going up a slight hill on the freeway, when all of a sudden,
> a big plume of black smoke started belching out the muffler.
> My vanagon started loosing power, almost didn't make it up the hill.
> Oil press., water temp., oil temp., etc. all seemed normal.
>
> This has never happened before. My '90 westy with 85,000 miles
> has always been totally reliable (even though it's not a Toyota).
> I pull over and the engine idles rough and finally stalls.
> My first thought: vanagon kaputt (heads, pistons, rings ???)
>
> After the inital shock, I started to think about all these recent posts
> about O2 sensors. Hmmm...  As a long shot,
> I disconnected the O2 sensor, and lo and behold,
> my westy runs just fine (except during acceleration and idle,
> there is a slight smoke, like too rich gas mix).
> I have a new stock O2 sensor on order now.
>
> Without the knowledge of the list, I would not have expected
> a burned out O2 sensor to make the van run so poorly.
> Thank you all for this recent discussion. For me, it was very timely.
>
> Harald
> '90 westy