John:

The electronic idle stabilizer is that black box mounted on the
sheetmetal not far from the Hall control unit.  It has two round plugs
connectors.  It's not hard to replace (2 screws) but fairly expensive.

You can test it pretty easily with a timing light.  Bentley has a
procedure, but I just look at the timing mark with the idle stabilizer
connected; the timing mark should be jumping around a lot, since that's
how it does its thing, by adjusting the timing.  With the idle stablizer
out of the curcuit (2 connectors joined one to the other) the timing
should be rock-solid.

On Thu, 8 Oct 1998, John Lauterbach wrote:

> I have read differing stories on the location of the idle stabilizer (IS) on
> the 1984 1.9L engine.  Does anyone know for sure where it is?  According a
> wiring schematic that I have, it is connected to the Hall unit on the
> distributor.  How does the IS work.  Is it difficult to replace?  I have a
> problem with too high an idle speed after the engine has warmed up and I
> have read that a bad IS can be the cause.
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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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