81 Vanagon, signs of running lean at ~3100-3500 rpm

[Kubelwagen]

WHoops - meant to add: the fact that it seemed to go away part way home is making me nuts.

[Gypsie]

Mike, I am so sorry that I didn't see your text until too late. I didn't have a filter anyway but I would have stopped to help troubleshoot. Dangit!

TS2 is a little sensor usually installed into the head by the #3 Cylinder. If it gets loose or has a bad elect. connection it will tell the ECU to deliver the wrong amount of fuel.

When you change your filter., cut the old one open (hacksaw is great for this). The upstream end. Look and see if there is anything in there. If you find chunks of crud you may be dealing with a tank full of crud (long times sitting with little or no fuel in the tank can allow rust to creep in there).

If there is crud sloshing around in the tank, it can settle over the out flow of the tank. The outflow port is a small opening on the bottom of the tank where the constant flow of the fuel being drawn out of the tank can suck sloshing crud onto it and prevent flow.

[Amskeptic]

TS2?

Yes, I'm thinking to too regards the field tech. I just don't have enough experience to know what I'm looking at.

I will be in Portland in the first week of October. Look me up, with your Vanagon ready to misbehave.
Colin

[Kubelwagen]

Colin,

Still figuring out what I want to do, regarding a day or half day or whatever. We had a round of layoffs at work that I (thankfully) survived but it has me a bit shaken. Why were not all living in a commune in Costa Rica I don't know.

Been doing some more noodling on the issue and am going to do some looking at my gas tank. The Search for Sludge is on.

[Kubelwagen]

Finally had time to get under the Vanagon this morning - no rain!

Drove around the block to shake the gas in the tank a little. (Ran fine)

Drained a couple of quarts of gas into a glass jar - no sign of debris. The previous owner had the fuel pump wrapped in a duct tape "blanket" to make it snug in the holder so I decided to take that apart to see if I could do it more properly. Upon removing the pump I took it and tapped the upstream end on the concrete. Several clumps of what appears to be very fine rust plopped out.

So, thoughts? Sounds like evidence of a dirty tank, yes?

Mike

[RSorak 71Westy]

Yes thats certainly where the rust came from. Very fine rust can and will go through most filters.

[Kubelwagen]

Fine spots of rust in the tank (not that many, really) and white flakes of something. So, what now? Any place in Portland that can blast and reseal it for me?

Michael

[ruckman101]

Do you have the tank out?


neal

[Kubelwagen]

I do.

[ruckman101]

The POR-15 folks have cleaning, and then coating products for the task. I'm sure there are other products out there, too. If nothing else, I think just gasoline and a short length of fairly heavy chain to shake, rattle and roll about on the interior until it cleans up. Marbles, ball bearings, probably even heavy nuts would do it too I wager.


neal

[Kubelwagen]

Scored a brand new tank off Amazon for...(wait for it) $0. Well, I say $0... we had enough "Amazon points" that it came to nothing, with free shipping. Not too bad, now let's see if it a) is actually made out of metal and b) fits!

[Amskeptic]

Scored a brand new tank off Amazon for...(wait for it) $0. Well, I say $0... we had enough "Amazon points" that it came to nothing, with free shipping. Not too bad, now let's see if it a) is actually made out of metal and b) fits!

Take it to Type2, this great news does not qualify as "Technical".
Colin

[airkooledchris]

sourcing the needed part to fix an issue started by the original poster doesn't seem all that far off topic to be listed here.

Kubelwagen - if you haven't already, and when you go to install the new tank, be sure to replace that vent line that runs across the top of the tank.
On the Vanagon's it seems to be the one that always leaks first and getting to it now will be a whole lot easier than down the road.

there is a little writeup of the process here:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mark.cumnock ... /id34.html

[Kubelwagen]

Thanks - all new lines will be going in and that procedure will help.

(Further discussion will be in type 2 land)

[Amskeptic]

sourcing the needed part to fix an issue started by the original poster doesn't seem all that far off topic to be listed here.

I sense an adventure, a story, brewing, and I want him to have full freedom to compose and report. I no longer see a "troubleshooting" thread here ... after the gas tank installation and whatever story comes with it, if he is still suffering from "signs of running lean", he can jump right back here with questions and symptoms.
Colin