[Vwdiesel] One for the archives...RE: '82 Vanagon westy and enginecutting out issue

[Area31 Research Facility]

You really should run a wire from the fuel solenoid terminal through a small
12 volt light bulb to chassis ground so you can monitor the quality and
stability of the voltage on the fuel solenoid while in the driver's seat.  A
voltmeter on the passenger seat would also suffice.  Cars can develop
electrical wiring and switch problems and intermittents are the worst to try
to diagnose.  This will give you at least one answer to the puzzle.  I would
prefer to use an older type analog multimeter with the needle on graduated
scale rather than a digital display for this purpose.  It is easier to see
hickup trends on this kind of display.

Rob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryant Baecht" <bbaecht at sunflower.com>
To: <Diesel-Vanagon at yahoogroups.com>; <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 12:00 AM
Subject: [Vwdiesel] One for the archives...RE: '82 Vanagon westy and
enginecutting out issue


> Hi all,
>      Thanks for all the pointers.  I also called my mechanic tonight that
> just replaced the head gasket and bounced a few things off him.  I
discussed
> the situation and he didn't think it was the pump.  This pump was recently
> rebuilt before I bought it.  Yeah, yeah, my thought was that they did
> something wrong in the rebuild process.  I explained what I did before to
> fix the problem and after discussing this, decided to remove the plunger
> from the fuel cutoff solenoid and see what happens.  After firing the bus
up
> for a friend and not getting 50 feet down the road before it cut out
again,
> I pulled the fuel cutoff solenoid and removed the spring/plunger/o-ring
and
> put the solenoid back on.  Well, the cutout hasn't happened since and I've
> driven the vanagon about 2-3 miles.  Before I couldn't get 50 feet down
the
> road.  I'll be driving more tomorrow and on the highway before heading out
> to a campout this weekend, 4 hours from home.
>      The thing I don't get is I replaced the fuel cutoff solenoid a couple
> of weeks ago from a running diesel that had no problems.  Now 500 miles
> later or so, this solenoid is behaving the same way as the bad one.
> Wondering if maybe I need check the electrical going to the solenoid?
Maybe
> it's putting out weird voltage, burning out my solenoid, or possibly a bad
> switch like mentioned previously?  Anyone heard of this?  This has sure
been
> a learning experience.  Having just bought one, I know they aren't cheap (
> $60 from Parts Place in Auburn Hills, MI ), so I definitely want to do
some
> looking at things before I burn out another one.  Thanks to all that have
> helped me with this so far!  You've been very helpful and I really
> appreciate it as this is my first VW weird problem I've had with my VW
> diesel fleet of '81 rabbit and '82 Vanagon.
>
> Bryant
>
>
>
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