Back To The Engine!

This weekend was filled with rain, wind, and cold weather. It was not the time for doing more work on the paint so I decided instead to focus on a few mechanical issues that I've been having lately. First off I don't feel like my engine has been running as smoothly since I replaced my exhaust system. I don't think this is a result of the exhaust system per say but that was around the time that I stopped driving the Vanagon regularly. If I've learned anything from owning a Vanagon it is that old vehicles like to be driven. Anyway, I had a bit of a rough idle and I'm seeing condensation and white smoke out of my exhaust when I start up the van. Something is not right.

My first action was to replace my O2 sensor again a few weeks ago. This helped a lot with the sound of the engine but it did not fix all of my problems. I'm confident that the O2 sensor that I put in when I replaced my exhaust was faulty but that was not the entire story. So rather than properly diagnosing the problem I decided to just keep throwing parts at my issue. Fortunately the parts I decided to throw were really cheap. This weekend I replaced the two temp sensors on my thermostat housing in an attempt to further smooth out my engine.

This leads me to the other issue that I have seen lately. Typically when I start the van my temperature warning light starts blinking immediately and my temperature gauge immediately rockets all the way to the right. My first action was to check my coolant level to make sure that my engine had enough coolant. I was able to verify that the coolant was fine and that was not the reason the warning light was coming on. A strange thing I noticed about the indicator light was that at times the gauge functioned normally and then at times it would freak out, blink, and rocket all the way to the right. This leads me to believe that I have an electrical problem or the sensor itself is broken. Since the part is cheap I went ahead and replaced the sensor at the thermostat housing. I also noticed that the wire attached to that sensor was worn and it looked like the connector was about to fall off. I went ahead and snipped the wire to expose some fresh wire and added a new connector. I also replaced the temp II sensor since all of the message boards so to just replace the thing if it even might be broken. I believe that the second sensor provides information to the fuel injection system which and that if it is not functioning properly your engine will run rough. While I was dumping coolant in the street I figured I might as well replace mine as well.

When I fired up the van again to bleed the coolant system and to verify that everything was put back together soundly I was impressed with how smooth the engine sounded. I then we back to watch the engine run and to rev the engine I noticed that my fuel pressure regularly was dripping something. Since I don't know what else a fuel pressure regulator could be dripping other than fuel I became concerned. I turned off the engine and went in the house to get a bunch of clean paper towels. Looking at the fuel pressure regulator it did not look like any of the fuel lines going into it were having problems but I wanted to be sure. I wrapped a paper towel around each of the lines at the point where they connected with the fuel pressure regulator and then another under the regulator itself. I fired up the engine again and waited for a minute. After I started seeing the liquid on the paper towel I turned the engine off and inspected my experiment. I should also add that when I filled up on Friday I noticed that my miles per gallon had dropped to 16 from 20 so I was already concerned about a potential fuel leak. Sure enough the fuel pressure regulator itself was seeping fuel right from the seam in the center. I don't know if this is a common problem but I certainly can't drive the Vanagon until I have this problem sorted out.

Later I was telling my Dad about what I had seen and he mentioned that in his experience with Volvos that often before the fuel pressure regulator fails it tends to flood the engine with fuel - I wonder if this is the same type of issue that I am seeing. Regardless, I don't think it will be a good idea to drive the Vanagon again until I get myself a new fuel pressure regulator.