So... She starts...sometimes...Battery is fine, new electronic ignition plus flamethrower coil (yeh yeh i know...) once she's running she seems to be just fine, it's just that getting started. Now she's always been fine, until a garage fitted the coil and ignition. I've checked it all over and it all seems fine, i've tried 3 coils, the battery is fully charged. I have found multiple air hoses both loose and cracked in the back, i'm not 100% certain i've connected them all up right but i think i have, however finding a picture where i can easily see them has proved elusive. There's an air breather elbow that appears to come out the manifold that's very badly cracked and needs replacing, could these air hoses be the issue? 1978 US Import, 2.0L L Jet Any help appreciated!
are you able to go back to points to see if this is your problem area? try checking the gap is correct on the new module. Otherwise was anything else adjusted? Are your chokes fully closed and opening correctly?
I no longer have the points parts, i have moved since the work was done and can't get back to the garage i used. Do i have chokes on fuel injection? Sorry, i moved from a '55 Bug to this thing and I don't know my way around it yet!
Sounds very similar to my problems, with my '78 FI bus... Have you gone through the FI system. It is vital in getting the bus started, if that doesn't work then your bus won't either. If it works sometimes but not others and runs fine when it does then my guess would be something electric, either a dodgy wire or something broken. 1st Step: Does the engine turn over each time when starting? If it doesn't every time then check starter / solenoid, if it does it's not that. 2nd step: Ignition System - Are you getting power to the coil and are you getting a spark from coil to dizzy and dizzy to plug If no, fix it, if yes then it's probably not that. 3rd Step: Check your fuel filter isn't clogged and that the pump whirrs when trying to start 4th Step: Print out the VW troubleshooting brochure from my FI Literature post in the How To section. Follow each step and check you are getting the correct voltages at each step of the FI system 5th Step: Are your fuel lines all ok? The breather hoses are important in the FI system but not for starting, if you had a problem with them then you would notice it once the engine is running... If you work out what's wrong with yours, let me know and it might be the same as mine! So far I'm changing the coil, dizzy, rotot and moving to electric ignition this weekend hopefully. I've already gone through the FI system and got to a potentially dodgy fuel pump so will also be testing that soon. The FI system is great when it's running but a pig when it's not!
The fuel pump whirs, like a small fan I suppose is the best think I can liken it to, it's not excessively loud but you should hear it when you are under the van and close to it. The FI troubleshooting book gets you to check it anyway.
Great, don't forget that if you can't hear the pump it might not be that the pump is faulty as the power to it comes from the double relay in the engine bay. (The double relay is part of the FI system)
Only replaced said filter last summer, pity it isn't see through but white! Still, I will clamp those hoses and take it off and give it a good blow through!
Just had the same starting problems on my FI 1800 Went through checks of the full injection system and it turned out to be the cylinder head temperature sensor which had gone to ground....literally and was sending the wrong signals for starting......if you've got an ohm meter it was an easy check without removing it. Check mad frankies previous posts for trouble shooting FI.........he's an afficienado on the subject Good luck
Cheers buddy, I don't have an Ohms meter, van is booked in garage Tuesday but i'm hoping to reduce the parameters of the problem if i can't fix it!
I'd highly suggest getting a multimeter. It helps immeasurably with troubleshooting a van this age and can save you loads of money. Especially as you can get a perfectly good one on eBay for a few quid. I'll get you a link to the one I got for mucking around the van with.
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=390171973976 Something like this is perfect for all van playing.
Btw in the first post you said you weren't sure about the correct air hose configuration - have a look on ratwells website as there is a superb set of pictures to put the air and vacuum system in the right place. Cheers
