Some Really Good News

Since Wednesday evening Zeno has covered just shy of 150 miles. Tess, the girls and I drove down to Yakima yesterday afternoon to pick up the van. The problem was, of course, the injection pump timing. FIS wasn’t able to address the oil line to the turbo, but they did take a look at a couple of the fuel lines.

Tess left the dogs with me and once I had the girls loaded up in the van we lit out for Ellensburg. Fueled up and on the road Zeno was holding 65 MPH easily and even better the work Daryl did on the transmission was some kind of magic. Even with a little dirt up front in the shift box the tranny now responds to input as well and as tight as if it were new. Reverse is now possible! And fifth is easy to find and it stays there, solid as a rock, despite the grades you might be pulling.

Speaking of grades, the injection system is working much better now that it’s timed and installed correctly. Anyone who’s ever driven over the Umtanum/Manastash ridges which separate Ellensburg and Yakima in der SKSV knows that you probably ought to add a little extra time to the schedule to crawl up those steep hillsides. Imagine my surprise half way up the first major climb when I realized I was going to be passing a long line of trucks. Not that I hadn’t geared down (fourth) to pull up the hill, but hey, I’m used to sitting in third or even second on this kind of climb and hoping that there’s not a headwind.

This morning I woke up early and headed over Snoqualmie Pass to get some work down at the office. The engine was a little difficult to start in the cold, but once it turned over and warmed up it ran like a champ. By the time we made it out onto Interstate-90 we cruised at a steady 65 all the way over the pass. Even up the steeper grades just east of Keechelus reservoir. There was plenty of wet and slippery snow on the road along the reservoir, but higher and the Bridgestone Blizzak tiers made for steady progress through the pass and down the west side.

So, I need to send out some thank you karma to a bunch of people.

Daryl Christensen – AA Transaxle: I’ve seen a lot of people beat around this bush for the last couple of months. They never quite say what all of us already know. Dude, you are a rock star! I only wish that I meet more people who pay as much attention to detail and deliver as high a level of quality as you seem to consistently achieve. My wasserboxer tranny? Like butter, my friend.

Jack Ewald – VW Diesel Parts: Sorry I ever doubted your work or your word, the fuel injection pump is working very well. You were correct that it was indeed the timing. Thanks for making yourself and the guy who did the rebuild available for assistance, this really did help and ultimately helped me go looking for someone who knew how to get the job done correctly.

Ron Miller – Fuel Injection Systems: If and when I have any problems with the power plant on Zeno in the future I will be knocking on your door. Larry was awesome to talk to, a real wealth of knowledge there and very willing to share. Interesting fact, end-to-end repair time on Zeno at this place had to have been under four task hours and its now running better than it probably has in the last 27 years.

Phase One

Zeno has been at Don Satnik’s Shop since Tuesday and in that time we’ve been able to confirm the following. First, the diesel fuel pump has a leak which is allowing fuel to escape the pump before it is pushed into the injectors. The amount of fuel isn’t much, but it was one of the things that concerned me greatly on the drive up from California. I knew that the fuel pump was the cause of the leak, but couldn’t locate the source. Thus I asked Don to take a look and sure enough he was able to isolate the problem.

Resolution of leaky fuel pump proved slightly more difficult than identification. But that said I need to thank everyone on the [Diesel-Vanagon] list serve for their help. I ended up getting the referral I’m acting upon through the list and while everyone I called for the part was helpful Jack from VW Diesel Parts is getting the business specifically because of the recommendations sent regarding the quality of work. Price appears to be the same just about anywhere you look. The re-conditioned fuel pump core is being taken care of as I write and I expect its arrival late this week or sometime early next.

The second problem was a lot more obvious. The transmission routinely pops out of 4^th gear while traveling down the road. By the time I made it back from southern California I think the muscles of right shoulder and neck were about ready to file for divorce. The recommendation for a rebuilt DX model transmission came through Vanagon Mailing List and Daryl from AA Transaxle called this afternoon to let me know that the rebuilt transmission is done. I’ll be picking it up Friday.

There may be some work that remains on the shift box when all this is complete. The shift level is sloppy and it took me a good week to be able to find reverse consistently. This may be caused by one of two things. Either the nylon parts in the shift box are worn or scared or the transmission that’s in there today is just that bad. Either way, it won’t do anyone any good at this point to replace the parts in the shift box so this will wait for diagnosis until after the replacement transmission is in.

Finally, I’ve ordered parts to replace the timing belt so I can reset the clock on this collection of parts now and avoid roadside repairs in the near future.