Amskeptic wrote:
Expect dark plugs and rich running at high elevation. We are only trying to give you a driveable vehicle for the short-term, correct?
air.
Colin
Yes, this is correct. Just looking to have a driveable vehicle as I make my way through the mountains in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. I will be traveling from the mountains to the coast and back and want to have the mixture/timing dialed in.
....So this morning, I changed the timing with the hopes of eliminating the buckling was experiencing when the van was cold. It was previously set at 40*BTDC (3400 rpm, hose off). I changed it to 36*BTDC and added 1/2 turn to the mixture screw bringing the total to 6 3/4 turns.
In addition, today I drove 2 hours from 8000 ft to 8500 ft, to Quito, Ecuador, up and down. Along the way I reached elevations of 9500 ft. At one point on the trip, at a light, the van died. The idle dropped and the van shutoff. I was unable to restart it with the key. Luckily I was facing downhill and was able to restart with the clutch.
From this point forward I was careful when I stopped the van. Numerous stops along the way and the van idled fine. When I reached the outskirts of Quito, the van died on the freeway, in the middle of traffic, slightly uphill. I was unable to start with the key and unable to push start it. I tried and tried with the key and was unsuccessful. I tried push starting backwards but was unsuccessful due the traffic. The police pushed me out of the way. (I did cross the equator before this happened!)
Off to the side I tried to start it and it would crank over slowly. I eventually got it started but when I opened the AFM, the wiper looked to be almost stuck. Any gas or any movement of the wiper caused the van to shutoff. The AFM wiper was behaving abnormally.
I checked the temp2, AFM resistances, battery voltage, all good.
I let it sit for a while. I also turned the mixture screw 1/2 turn cw to undo the mixture screw change I had made earlier in the day. I got it to start and idle fine for the most part. Sometimes the idle would start to drop and would return to 900RPM with a little gas.
Scared to breakdown on the freeway again, I called my friendly neighborhood Syncro owner to escort me to his house (*I was on my way to visit this man since he hosts all VW travelers that pass through Ecuador. He escorted me, see photo below.)
- DSC_0540.JPG (74.93 KiB) Viewed 11830 times
I was concerned about the van dying every time I came to a stop but the idle rpm barely dropped. I made it without shutting off.
My question is, where do I go from here with the mixture/timing?
This is a mixture/timing issue, or am I looking at something else?
What else has changed: between driving it today and last time I drove the van, I cleaned my removal K&N air filter.
Other obeservations, driving it to the syncro owner's house, the exhaust smelled rich.
Thank you for your help. This community is exceptional. Cheers.