Club 80-90 Forums

Hi
used van yesterday - no problems, parked at friends, went to leave and van wont fire up.

1985 1.9 DG Petrol

Symptoms -
Dash is out at the moment, so all wiring exposed up the front. Care taken to ensure no short circuits etc, everything taped up ok. Van has been running really well. I dont think its that end.
Binicle is off atm, so I dont have a fuel guage etc, although I know I have fuel in tank.
Fuel pump is delivering fuel to carb.
Battery is recent and charged, although lots of drain due to no starting!
Spark plug out and grounded shows no spark.
Coil changed for the spare one I carry - still no spark.
The ECU black box thingy was replaced about 3 yrs ago with one from JK. My only thought is it could have packed up again? I imagine there is no way of testing apart from replacing?
Engine turnes over well and everything sounds ok, apart from no bliddy fire up!

Am popping back to it shortly to put battery on charge, as a precaution.

Anything else I could check?

I live near VW Heritage, but even if they stock the ECU, they are not open today.....

Any local DG owners have a spare I could try?

Any other ideas as to what it could be? I did look in Wiki about the non starting flowchart but couldnt get passed the 'have to put the key in the ignition (!) page!!!

Thanks all.

FW

hmmm
have done some further checks, with my friendly mechanic on the other end of phone! He gave me a spare ecu to try - not that. We've tested the distributer, there is live going in but nought coming out! Bugger!

Distributer is off the van - VW part number stamped on side is
Z414
0237024011
025905205J

Brickwerks dont seem to do the whole unit,
JK do, but the number they quote doesnt match? And their picture shows their unit has a condensor on the side...whereas mine doesnt have one.

Anyone know where I can source a replacement for the one I have please?

many thanks....

could just be the hall sender has given up and you may not need the whole dizzy
regards doug

thanks doug, was reading bout that. will try..... FW

...anyone please? Where can I get a VW (Bosch?) dizzy from, other than VW?

The hall sender is simple to check just remove the centre HT lead from the distributor and hold it about 5mm away from a metal part of the engine or bodywork and away from the fuel system, remove the three pin plug from the distributor and probe a piece of wire into the centre pin of the plug, switch on the ignition and then scrape the other end of the wire along a metal part of the engine this should then produce sparks from the HT lead, if you get sparks then the rest of the ignition system is OK and the hall sensor is at fault. before you replace the sensor check there is more than 5 volt across the two outside pins of the three pin plug

got a used dg manual disi on the shelf here, vac unit works, as does hall unit

thanks so much Bigherb and Aiden...
I have my dizzy on living room floor at moment (!) and aim to get the van towed back to my house tomorrow, when I will recheck what we think is at fault. Will go from there but may need to replace unit...
Thats what I love about this place - info and learning!
Cheers again
FW

Those fine people at Brickwerks have struck again..... first class service - part will be here sooooooon!