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Re: Dead on the Freeway


On 30 Oct 97, William Falkenbach wrote:

> Well people, I`m getting very close to throwing in the towel on this
> car. In reply to Jim, yes the pressure sensor does check out.Don`t
> need one of those. But what else could it be? Its getting to point
> that we will be needing a second car soon.If I can`t get it started
> and running reliably by this weekend, we will either give it away to
> a charitable entity (tax deduction) or sell it as is. I hate to do
> this as I am the second owner of this car,never been in an accident,
> cool original wheels I`ve only seen once before-------but I can`t
> have a boat anchor in my garage. Anybody on this list maybe
> interested? I live in California, the San Diego area.

Wish you were closer, we'd have you going in an afternoon or less.  
This will turn out to be something simple. Don't give up the ship 
just yet; this isn't really rocket science--you CAN do it!

Lets start over (print this out and use it as a check list):

Make sure that ignition is not the problem.  Check for spark with an 
inductive timing light putting the pickup on each of the individual 
plug wires in turn; we want to verify that spark is getting OUT of 
the dist.  Then with the pickup on the coil wire, check the spark 
timing.

Check around for broken wires.

Disconnect the electrical connection to the cold start valve.  It is 
possible that something has shorted out in its circuit and caused
it to stay on, flooding the engine (unlikely!)

Pull out and disconnect the brain.  Check the continuity of the 
harness through each of the components.  For some components you will 
have to measure the resistance from one pin of the brain connector to 
another, for others you will have to measure the resistance between a 
pin and ground.  In some cases you will be looking for a voltage 
rather than a resistance.  Verify that in each case you get a 
correct reading.  Don't worry about the difference between 90 and 100 
Ohms, but do worry about something that should read X Ohms reading 0 
or infinity (or 2x high or low) instead. Check each of the following:

All four injectors
Pressure sensor primary and secondary windings (five measurements!)
Both temp sensors
Ground connection!
I don't think a throttle valve switch problem would stop you like 
this, but check it anyway.  You MIGHT try starting the car with this 
switch disconnected.

Turn the key on and verify that you have 12 V between EACH of the 12 
V supply pins and ground.

Get another person to help you crank the engine.  Verify that (only) 
while cranking you have 12V on the wire coming from the starter.  
Verify that you see each dist contact opening and closing as the 
engine turns.

If all of these are fine then one might expect the brain.  It's 
possible, but I would bet heavily against it.

Has anyone on this list ever had a brain truly fail?  The only one 
that I know of was one that was replaced as defective by dealer.
The owner gave me the old unit so I could tear into it, but I tried 
it first and it was fine.  I drove it for years.  Go figger.

Jim
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       Melissa Kepner                                    Jim Adney
                             Laura Kepner-Adney
                         jadney@vwtype3.org      
                             Madison, Wisconsin
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