Shielded wire is to prevent electrical noise from interfering
with the original voltage in the wire. VW didn't put a shield wire in
there for nothing. Running a low voltage, at a very low current, that
distance will surely have problems. The engine may still run. May
run rich, or lean, but only an emission machine will tell for sure,
as you drive down the highway.

            Eric                   86-VW4x4
            vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
            Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler

On Wed, 3 Nov 1999, karl wrote:

> Today I diagnosed a Vanagon problem I had never seen before. The customers
> van would start and run fine when cold, but gradually begin to run more and
> more rich (i.e. black smoke) as the engine temperature increased, and become
> undriveable. After much swapping and testing of sensors, AFM's, ECU's, I
> found the problem to be a shorted out oxygen sensor lead. This being the
> large bright greeen wire from the ECU, through the harness, and to the
> oxygen sensor. The shielded portion of the lead is shorted out to the core
> of the wire, effectively shorting the entire OXS lead. I clipped the
> connection to the shielding, near the ECU plug (actually, inside the plug),
> and the problem is totally gone! NOW, the question: What is the actual
> purpose of the wire shielding, and will it be OK to leave it disconnected?
> Does the shielding prevent electrical signal interference? The other option
> is to replace the complete shielded wire, which could be a huge hassle given
> that this is a Syncro. Any experts out there care to take a stab at this?
> Thanks!
>
> Karl M
>