Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP
Hi – Several have asked about the Smog Check business I mentioned in a recent post. ? I used Paul's Smog Check · 10199 Riverford Rd. Ste C Lakeside, CA 92040.? (619) 562-6222 ? Full disclosure - I only actually got this one name and location, though I was told there were “several” in the area. Paul did a great job, fast and professional. He does require an appointment and his hours are a bit odd – he opens at 3 pm! That is not a typo. And he’s punctual, expects you to be as well. So for sure, call in advance. I believe he charged something like $50 – don’t quote me, don’t assume! ? Lakeside is about five minutes outside of El Cajon. ? If you need to, you can probably call Cesar at California Westys in El Cajon. His team did my conversion. Call and enquire about the other locations he mentioned in our conversations. He is at (619) 518-7050. Google California Westys – he’s got a full website with lots of information. ? Finally, to set expectations: Paul is a good guy, knows conversions. But – he is A) not a miracle worker. If your vehicle is out of spec, he can’t help. B) He is not a repair shop, and per the rules he can’t even recommend one (this is stated on posters around his shop). For Doug – I am not familiar with the Lean Kworkin conversion; I have no idea if Paul is either (probably is, but…), worth a call. ? So call in advance, everybody! ? Thanks, ? Terry ? ? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Douglas Southard Sent: Friday, February 2, 2024 6:44 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]Subject: Re: [SubaruVanagon] Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP ? Ditto from me.? I've had a Leon Kworkin conversion for almost 20 years.? Always worked great and always passed smog tests except once due to rotted out gas cap gasket.? But (as many may know) Leon couldn't get his clients official BAR code stickers (long story) so I've had to drive to his home turf (Torrence, CA) every two years to use a smog check shop familiar with the Executive Order who wasn't afraid of the BAR.? All my local smog shops won't do it.? I'm in Carlsbad, so El Cajon would be much more convenient. On Friday, February 2, 2024 at 06:28:30 PM PST, Emmanuel Vargas <evargas163@...> wrote: ? Terry,
In your post, you said that there are a couple of smog Shops in El Cajon that will that can do Vanagon Conversion Smogs.? Do you have the smog shop's address??? "El Cajon has a couple state certified smog shops and are very familiar with this conversion. 100% legal in case you were wondering, and they don’t need that silly Sticker/bar code,"
Thanks,
Manny
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Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP
Ditto from me.? I've had a Leon Kworkin conversion for almost 20 years.? Always worked great and always passed smog tests except once due to rotted out gas cap gasket.? But (as many may know) Leon couldn't get his clients official BAR code stickers (long story) so I've had to drive to his home turf (Torrence, CA) every two years to use a smog check shop familiar with the Executive Order who wasn't afraid of the BAR.? All my local smog shops won't do it.? I'm in Carlsbad, so El Cajon would be much more convenient.
Thanks in advance,
Doug
On Friday, February 2, 2024 at 06:28:30 PM PST, Emmanuel Vargas <evargas163@...> wrote:
Terry,
In your post, you said that there are a couple of smog Shops in El Cajon that will that can do Vanagon Conversion Smogs.? Do you have the smog shop's address???
"El Cajon has a couple state certified smog shops and are very familiar with this conversion. 100% legal in case you were wondering, and they don’t need that silly Sticker/bar code,"
Thanks, Manny
|
Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP
Terry,
In your post, you said that there are a couple of smog Shops in El Cajon that will that can do Vanagon Conversion Smogs.? Do you have the smog shop's address???
"El Cajon has a couple state certified smog shops and are very familiar with this conversion. 100% legal in case you were wondering, and they don’t need that silly Sticker/bar code,"
Thanks, Manny
|
Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP
Thanks for the follow up.
Andy
505-304-5306
Hi – Mid January, many of you were following/helping me find and fix a Check Engine Light fail. That problem meant I was not going to be able to get the van smog checked. I finally resolved all issues (well, mostly). Thought I would explain what had to happen. I wish this was a tale where I learned some great secrets, have become an expert, and can pass my wisdom on to others. ? Nope. ? I finally called the original installer in El Cajon, CA, and he agreed to see me and fix the issues – to his credit. So I made the 5 hour drive down (took 7 hours as I had to cross the LA basin north to south amid morning traffic). His guys got right on the issue. Turns out there were two problems – a connector into the main connector cluster – pin 14 I think - in the Instrument panel was broken. And – very key – it was also missing the wire that should have been in that slot (presumably providing power to the CEL). Once that all got rectified, I was good to go. ? Bonus – El Cajon has a couple state certified smog shops and are very familiar with this conversion. 100% legal in case you were wondering, and they don’t need that silly Sticker/bar code, as the engine is clearly marked indicating it meets/passes the CARB directive. So, while we were down there, we were able to get smog certified, no problem. Then another 6 hour drive home . Good Times. ? Only took two+ weeks of futzing around to get to this point. ? Thanks to all who offered support. Hope I can one day return the favor. ? Terry ? ? ? ? Thanks Christoph – I am still learning/looking for a solution. Do you (or anybody) know which pin from the ECU I need to find? According to what I saw on Busaru.com, it should be part of connector F47, pin 19. Attached is the document from which I got this information. Check the bottom of the second page of this PDF ? If I have located this pin correctly (hard to know the orientation of the connector on the ecu), it has a red/yellow wire currently connected. A similar red/yellow wire can be found in the main VW cluster connection, but it is for coolant heating (per cluster images and VW information available), not anything to do with the CEL. ? I tried checking for voltage at that ECU pin, but got zero reading. This could be operator error (me!) as I am not sure the volt meter lead was getting any electrical connection in the first place. It’s a small opening, and the red/yellow wire is firmly seated within it. Not much room for a volt meter lead. I’ll try again later today. ? Thanks for the advice and knowledge. Am soaking it all up as fast/best as I can. ? tc ? ? ? ? Just like Wayne says you need to run a long wire from the ECU CEL pin to the LED in the dash. You really want that also to check error codes. Just because the light is not on does not mean you don't have any error codes. this is a good site to understand which codes are allowed at the SMOG and which are not: ? On Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 3:58?PM Wayne Sitarz <wesitarz@...> wrote: What year 2.2? The ECU should have a CEL pin that should have certain voltages when on or off according to the pinout (Busaru.com) The CEL is likely wired through the black box upper left engine firewall. Do you have a labeled CEL in the dash cluster? Is there voltage at a repurposed wire at the 14 pin connector to the dash cluster when you turn ignition on? Did the CEL ever work? Ask the builder? If it's the bulb you could wire a LED somewhere on the dash.
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Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory WRAP UP
Hi – Mid January, many of you were following/helping me find and fix a Check Engine Light fail. That problem meant I was not going to be able to get the van smog checked. I finally resolved all issues (well, mostly). Thought I would explain what had to happen. I wish this was a tale where I learned some great secrets, have become an expert, and can pass my wisdom on to others. ? Nope. ? I finally called the original installer in El Cajon, CA, and he agreed to see me and fix the issues – to his credit. So I made the 5 hour drive down (took 7 hours as I had to cross the LA basin north to south amid morning traffic). His guys got right on the issue. Turns out there were two problems – a connector into the main connector cluster – pin 14 I think - in the Instrument panel was broken. And – very key – it was also missing the wire that should have been in that slot (presumably providing power to the CEL). Once that all got rectified, I was good to go. ? Bonus – El Cajon has a couple state certified smog shops and are very familiar with this conversion. 100% legal in case you were wondering, and they don’t need that silly Sticker/bar code, as the engine is clearly marked indicating it meets/passes the CARB directive. So, while we were down there, we were able to get smog certified, no problem. Then another 6 hour drive home . Good Times. ? Only took two+ weeks of futzing around to get to this point. ? Thanks to all who offered support. Hope I can one day return the favor. ? Terry ? ? ?
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From: tcline001@... <tcline001@...> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2024 3:45 PM To: [email protected]Subject: RE: [SubaruVanagon] Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory ? Thanks Christoph – I am still learning/looking for a solution. Do you (or anybody) know which pin from the ECU I need to find? According to what I saw on Busaru.com, it should be part of connector F47, pin 19. Attached is the document from which I got this information. Check the bottom of the second page of this PDF ? If I have located this pin correctly (hard to know the orientation of the connector on the ecu), it has a red/yellow wire currently connected. A similar red/yellow wire can be found in the main VW cluster connection, but it is for coolant heating (per cluster images and VW information available), not anything to do with the CEL. ? I tried checking for voltage at that ECU pin, but got zero reading. This could be operator error (me!) as I am not sure the volt meter lead was getting any electrical connection in the first place. It’s a small opening, and the red/yellow wire is firmly seated within it. Not much room for a volt meter lead. I’ll try again later today. ? Thanks for the advice and knowledge. Am soaking it all up as fast/best as I can. ? tc ? ? ? ? Just like Wayne says you need to run a long wire from the ECU CEL pin to the LED in the dash. You really want that also to check error codes. Just because the light is not on does not mean you don't have any error codes. this is a good site to understand which codes are allowed at the SMOG and which are not: ? On Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 3:58?PM Wayne Sitarz <wesitarz@...> wrote: What year 2.2? The ECU should have a CEL pin that should have certain voltages when on or off according to the pinout (Busaru.com) The CEL is likely wired through the black box upper left engine firewall. Do you have a labeled CEL in the dash cluster? Is there voltage at a repurposed wire at the 14 pin connector to the dash cluster when you turn ignition on? Did the CEL ever work? Ask the builder? If it's the bulb you could wire a LED somewhere on the dash.
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Re: some positive feedback
A great little story Paul, I know exactly how you feel. Winston '85 2002 2.5 N/A / reversed Subie 5 speed ( all from the car I bought new in Dec 2001). Cheers
On Fri, 19 Jan 2024 at 20:35, lreinreb < lreinreb@...> wrote: ? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul 
|
Re: Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Folks:
I received the email below yesterday afternoon and wanted to share as many of you will be affected.
Bottom line is that an email server at Groups.IO got marked as a spam email server by a software package named Spamhaus.
Groups.io began a user revivification process which sends an email requesting reverification?to a subset of our users.
I just looked at a listing of affected users and found that of our 5608 users, 37 have already reverified and 63 are still being reverified.
Just a heads up to be on the lookout for a reverification email.
MUCH more information on the topic is available for your reading below.
Best,
Brent
Begin forwarded message:
Subject:?Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Date:?January 25, 2024 at 4:00:42?PM CST
To:?"Brent Weide"?
Dear Brent Weide,
You are receiving this email because you are an owner or moderator of one or more Groups.io groups. We are in the process of reverifying some of our users and we wanted to make sure you knew what was happening and why. For more detail about this, please visit the Reverification FAQ, at?/static/reverifyfaq
On Saturday January 13th, 2024, an anti-spam service called Spamhaus labeled one of our email servers as a spam sender. This caused any email service that uses Spamhaus to stop accepting email from our server. Because of this, we began a reverification process and sent out reverification emails to a subset of our users on Sunday January 14th. Spamhaus lifted their block on Monday, January 15th, 2024, but we need to continue the reverification process.
You can see which, if any, of your users are affected. Go to the Admin section of your group and look at the Members page. Next to each user's email, there may be a badge with the letters RI or RS. RI means the confirmation/reverification is in progress, but has not been completed. RS means the confirmation/reverification has been successfully completed.
Here are the next steps in the reverification process:
- On Sunday, January 28th, group emails to people in the RI state will be disabled. Messages from moderators and login link emails will still work.
- Until February 11th, people will still be able to reverify themselves and the RI and RS badges will still show up in the Members page.
- After that, members still in the RI state will be removed from groups. The activity log entry will be?Membership - Member Removed, with the added reason of?reverification failed.
?
For domains where no reverifications happened, no invites or direct adds will be permitted going forward. If there is a valid person on one of those domains, they should contact [email protected] to have the domain ban lifted.
We apologize for the inconvenience this process may cause, but it is necessary to ensure that we are able to continue delivering group email reliably. Thank you for using Groups.io.
Best Regards, ?The Groups.io Team
|
Re: Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
There's no need for you to do anything if you have not received a re-verification email.
I just sent out an email to all users who have been flagged and still need to re-verify.
Thanks much and sorry for the hassle.
Best,
Brent
|
Re: Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Haven’t seen this yet, can we go and initiate this process before we receive the email ? SeanG?
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On Jan 26, 2024, at 8:33?AM, Group Moderator <[email protected]> wrote:
?Folks:
I received the email below yesterday afternoon and wanted to share as many of you will be affected.
Bottom line is that an email server at Groups.IO got marked as a spam email server by a software package named Spamhaus.
Groups.io began a user revivification process which sends an email requesting reverification?to a subset of our users.
I just looked at a listing of affected users and found that of our 5608 users, 37 have already reverified and 63 are still being reverified.
Just a heads up to be on the lookout for a reverification email.
MUCH more information on the topic is available for your reading below.
Best,
Brent
Begin forwarded message:
Subject:?Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Date:?January 25, 2024 at 4:00:42?PM CST
To:?"Brent Weide"?
Dear Brent Weide,
You are receiving this email because you are an owner or moderator of one or more Groups.io groups. We are in the process of reverifying some of our users and we wanted to make sure you knew what was happening and why. For more detail about this, please visit the Reverification FAQ, at?/static/reverifyfaq
On Saturday January 13th, 2024, an anti-spam service called Spamhaus labeled one of our email servers as a spam sender. This caused any email service that uses Spamhaus to stop accepting email from our server. Because of this, we began a reverification process and sent out reverification emails to a subset of our users on Sunday January 14th. Spamhaus lifted their block on Monday, January 15th, 2024, but we need to continue the reverification process.
You can see which, if any, of your users are affected. Go to the Admin section of your group and look at the Members page. Next to each user's email, there may be a badge with the letters RI or RS. RI means the confirmation/reverification is in progress, but has not been completed. RS means the confirmation/reverification has been successfully completed.
Here are the next steps in the reverification process:
- On Sunday, January 28th, group emails to people in the RI state will be disabled. Messages from moderators and login link emails will still work.
- Until February 11th, people will still be able to reverify themselves and the RI and RS badges will still show up in the Members page.
- After that, members still in the RI state will be removed from groups. The activity log entry will be?Membership - Member Removed, with the added reason of?reverification failed.
?
For domains where no reverifications happened, no invites or direct adds will be permitted going forward. If there is a valid person on one of those domains, they should contact [email protected] to have the domain ban lifted.
We apologize for the inconvenience this process may cause, but it is necessary to ensure that we are able to continue delivering group email reliably. Thank you for using Groups.io.
Best Regards, ?The Groups.io Team
|
Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Folks:
I received the email below yesterday afternoon and wanted to share as many of you will be affected.
Bottom line is that an email server at Groups.IO got marked as a spam email server by a software package named Spamhaus.
Groups.io began a user revivification process which sends an email requesting reverification?to a subset of our users.
I just looked at a listing of affected users and found that of our 5608 users, 37 have already reverified and 63 are still being reverified.
Just a heads up to be on the lookout for a reverification email.
MUCH more information on the topic is available for your reading below.
Best,
Brent
Begin forwarded message:
Subject:?Update on Groups.io Reverification Process
Date:?January 25, 2024 at 4:00:42?PM CST
To:?"Brent Weide"?
Dear Brent Weide,
You are receiving this email because you are an owner or moderator of one or more Groups.io groups. We are in the process of reverifying some of our users and we wanted to make sure you knew what was happening and why. For more detail about this, please visit the Reverification FAQ, at?/static/reverifyfaq
On Saturday January 13th, 2024, an anti-spam service called Spamhaus labeled one of our email servers as a spam sender. This caused any email service that uses Spamhaus to stop accepting email from our server. Because of this, we began a reverification process and sent out reverification emails to a subset of our users on Sunday January 14th. Spamhaus lifted their block on Monday, January 15th, 2024, but we need to continue the reverification process.
You can see which, if any, of your users are affected. Go to the Admin section of your group and look at the Members page. Next to each user's email, there may be a badge with the letters RI or RS. RI means the confirmation/reverification is in progress, but has not been completed. RS means the confirmation/reverification has been successfully completed.
Here are the next steps in the reverification process:
- On Sunday, January 28th, group emails to people in the RI state will be disabled. Messages from moderators and login link emails will still work.
- Until February 11th, people will still be able to reverify themselves and the RI and RS badges will still show up in the Members page.
- After that, members still in the RI state will be removed from groups. The activity log entry will be?Membership - Member Removed, with the added reason of?reverification failed.
?
For domains where no reverifications happened, no invites or direct adds will be permitted going forward. If there is a valid person on one of those domains, they should contact [email protected] to have the domain ban lifted.
We apologize for the inconvenience this process may cause, but it is necessary to ensure that we are able to continue delivering group email reliably. Thank you for using Groups.io.
Best Regards, ?The Groups.io Team
|
Re: some positive feedback
Paul: Thanks for your appreciation of our site and your fun story. Much appreciated,
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On Jan 19, 2024, at 7:34?PM, lreinreb <lreinreb@...> wrote:
? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul<IMG_0075.JPG>
|
Re: some positive feedback
I needed this and I didn’t know it. Thank you.?
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Show quoted text
On Jan 19, 2024, at 11:51?PM, Richard Montgomery via groups.io <rikmont@...> wrote:
?
thanks for your post! I'm still smiling imagining the scene...!
Rick
On Friday, January 19, 2024 at 07:35:01 PM CST, lreinreb <lreinreb@...> wrote:
? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul <IMG_0075.JPG>
<IMG_0075.JPG>
|
Re: some positive feedback
thanks for your post! I'm still smiling imagining the scene...!
Rick
On Friday, January 19, 2024 at 07:35:01 PM CST, lreinreb <lreinreb@...> wrote:
? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul 
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Re: some positive feedback
That was fun! ? I am one of those with CEL issues and smog check challenges. I hope none of my posts were discouraging to anybody. I love this darn thing, and we press on! ? And for the record – YES – the conversion is totally worth it, I’ll second that. Sane freeway speeds and climbs like a charm. Spectacular! ? tc ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of lreinreb Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 5:35 PM To: [email protected]Subject: [SubaruVanagon] some positive feedback ? ? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul
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? ?I have been following this site since before I did a conversion to my '84 westy, Buttercup, using a $500.00, 210,000 mi. '96 2.2 Subaru donor car. I want to offer a little encouragement to the people considering?it. All the posts about check?engine lights,ecu?warnings, and idling problems can be discouraging, I would like to counter that with a story about my experience with the van on the road. I did the DIY conversion in 2020, including fabricating engine mounts, wiring harness, shift linkage and reversed trans. over a period of a few months.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?In 2022 my wife and I decided to visit friends and family across the country as far as Quebec and Maine. We had put a few thousand miles on the conversion by then and I trusted it enough to figure it would get us back to Calif. again. So off we went, with no problems til Portland, Oregon when a fan thermostat refused to turn the fan on in traffic. a light tap with the end of a screwdriver got it working again. After that, the van performed flawlessly across the country and back, going as fast as I needed to keep up with traffic. On the return trip, we had been enduring 100 degree days across the midwest and over the Rocky Mts. on highway?70 with no AC, so decided to take highway 15 west to the coast for some relief. US 15 across Utah and Nevada passes thru a geological feature known as the basin and range complex. We were traversing that, heading down slope off one range and across 5+ miles of valley floor when I saw in my mirror a F350 Ford towing a big 5th wheel trailer blowing black smoke as it was fixing to pass us. Lacking AC, we have all the windows open as it is over 100 degrees and I realize that he is going to smoke us out with "burning coal" so I step on it just enough to keep ahead of him. He has this huge box he is dragging so it wasn't hard to stay ahead, 3400 RPM in 5th was around 70 MPH so our little Buttercup was not straining. As we started to climb, I shifted to 4th and 4000 RPM and can see the smoke cloud increase in my rearview mirror as he kicks down?a gear. Finally up at the top of the pass, I see that the wind has shifted and the smoke is blowing back on his trailer, so I let him pass. He just stays in the fast lane, no let up,trailing a black cloud, as we resume our cruising?speed. The next up slope, 10 miles later, we see the same rig, over at the side of the road with the hood up and white smoke, not steam coming from the engine compartment. I couldn't help myself from giving him a friendly beep, beep,beep as we went by. That extra 40 HP makes the difference in these vans. You won't regret it. Paul 
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Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory
The diagram for the ECU connectors is if you are looking at the wire side of the connectors. You can back probe at the connector by inserting a paper clip end and touch your probe to that. I'm thinking that if the CEL is blinking when you first turn the key to on there should be alternating voltage (less than 1v to 10-14v). It should be the same at the 14 pin connector (#14 if that's how it's wired). That leaves the bulb for the O2 counter. You could wire a separate LED as described.
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Re: Wiring for Check Engine Light
Hi everyone , didn’t realize we had so many subi vanagons living in south SLO county.?
anyway once you get the CEL to come on, i find it worth the drive to get my 84 vanagon OBD1 2.2 smogged in ventura. the referee in oxnard did my first ever CA smog when i moved here from out of state.?
also smogies smog shop in ventura has a working dyno, and the shop owner and his son are both extremely knowledgeable (and supportive) of the subaru conversion in these vans.?
i’m sure someone in SLO county can help too. just my $.02
-Nick ??
On Thu, Jan 18, 2024 at 4:23?PM vw_van_fan_Mark < madvws@...> wrote: Below is an old post from this group that may help you.
It is slightly trimmed and from the old yahoo group.
Mark
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Wiring for Check Engine Light
Date:? ?Mon, 26 Jun 2017 22:36:09 -0400
From:? ?Larry A
Rich,
I don't know what KEP tells you about the check engine light;
Having said all that, I will tell you what I feel is relevant.
The most important info you need is what pin on the ECU goes to the CEL
on that year and model. You should be able to find this out from the
files on our group site or on sites that are linked to. That pin on the
ECU goes low (to ground) when the ECU wants to turn on the CEL. Thru a
resistor, that pin needs to be connected to the LED that you use for the
CEL. You did not mention whether you want to install it in the
instrument cluster or near the ECU. In any case you need to connect the
other end of the LED to a source of +12V that is on when the ignition is
on. Such a source of 12v can be found on the instrument cluster or on
the wires supplying the ECU.
The resistor in the circuit is needed to prevent the LED from being
overloaded by too much current. I would use something like 500 to 800
ohms, 1/2 watt or 1/4 watt. The LED will light only when it is
connected in the right direction. You can check this using a 9V battery
if you wish, again using the resistor to limit the current.
Good luck,
Larry A.
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Re: Wiring for Check Engine Light
Below is an old post from this group that may help you.
It is slightly trimmed and from the old yahoo group.
Mark
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Wiring for Check Engine Light
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2017 22:36:09 -0400
From: Larry A
Rich,
I don't know what KEP tells you about the check engine light;
Having said all that, I will tell you what I feel is relevant.
The most important info you need is what pin on the ECU goes to the CEL
on that year and model. You should be able to find this out from the
files on our group site or on sites that are linked to. That pin on the
ECU goes low (to ground) when the ECU wants to turn on the CEL. Thru a
resistor, that pin needs to be connected to the LED that you use for the
CEL. You did not mention whether you want to install it in the
instrument cluster or near the ECU. In any case you need to connect the
other end of the LED to a source of +12V that is on when the ignition is
on. Such a source of 12v can be found on the instrument cluster or on
the wires supplying the ECU.
The resistor in the circuit is needed to prevent the LED from being
overloaded by too much current. I would use something like 500 to 800
ohms, 1/2 watt or 1/4 watt. The LED will light only when it is
connected in the right direction. You can check this using a 9V battery
if you wish, again using the resistor to limit the current.
Good luck,
Larry A.
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Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory
Thanks Christoph – I am still learning/looking for a solution. Do you (or anybody) know which pin from the ECU I need to find? According to what I saw on Busaru.com, it should be part of connector F47, pin 19. Attached is the document from which I got this information. Check the bottom of the second page of this PDF ? If I have located this pin correctly (hard to know the orientation of the connector on the ecu), it has a red/yellow wire currently connected. A similar red/yellow wire can be found in the main VW cluster connection, but it is for coolant heating (per cluster images and VW information available), not anything to do with the CEL. ? I tried checking for voltage at that ECU pin, but got zero reading. This could be operator error (me!) as I am not sure the volt meter lead was getting any electrical connection in the first place. It’s a small opening, and the red/yellow wire is firmly seated within it. Not much room for a volt meter lead. I’ll try again later today. ? Thanks for the advice and knowledge. Am soaking it all up as fast/best as I can. ? tc ? ? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Christoph Pistor Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 4:18 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [SubaruVanagon] Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory ? Just like Wayne says you need to run a long wire from the ECU CEL pin to the LED in the dash. You really want that also to check error codes. Just because the light is not on does not mean you don't have any error codes. this is a good site to understand which codes are allowed at the SMOG and which are not: ? On Tue, Jan 16, 2024 at 3:58?PM Wayne Sitarz <wesitarz@...> wrote: What year 2.2? The ECU should have a CEL pin that should have certain voltages when on or off according to the pinout (Busaru.com) The CEL is likely wired through the black box upper left engine firewall. Do you have a labeled CEL in the dash cluster? Is there voltage at a repurposed wire at the 14 pin connector to the dash cluster when you turn ignition on? Did the CEL ever work? Ask the builder? If it's the bulb you could wire a LED somewhere on the dash.
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Re: Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory
Hi Wayne. Thanks for your input. ? - Year of the 2.2: The engine is a 1990 – 94 Legacy. I believe the builder mentioned mine was from 1993 (but I am not aware how to verify that)
- Labeled CEL in the cluster – I don’t know about this, I certainly am not seeing anything labeled per se. But admittedly I don’t really know just what I am looking for
- Volage at pin 14. I have the instrument cluster removed, have the dash cluster connector available, stuck a volt meter lead down pin 14, and I get a reading of 6.3 v with the key turned to the first position. Not sure what that is actually telling me, other than the value
- Did CEL ever work – I never noticed it working, but then, I never looked for it until now. I have to assume the builder knows all about the CEL feature and would have had it working . I messaged the builder to verify, so far, no response, will try again. He’s done hundreds conversions in California…so…
- Bulb working - Can’t tell if it’s the bulb or not, would be nice to test this with the instrument Cluster removed. My cluster version still has the dreaded blue foil, but shouldn’t there be light pins for testing? There appear to be two metal points on the foil about where the light would be. Maybe I can put some voltage on them and test?
? Thx tc ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Wayne Sitarz Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 5:58 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [SubaruVanagon] Engine light check - Smog Check purgatory ? What year 2.2? The ECU should have a CEL pin that should have certain voltages when on or off according to the pinout (Busaru.com) The CEL is likely wired through the black box upper left engine firewall. Do you have a labeled CEL in the dash cluster? Is there voltage at a repurposed wire at the 14 pin connector to the dash cluster when you turn ignition on? Did the CEL ever work? Ask the builder? If it's the bulb you could wire a LED somewhere on the dash.
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Terry Cline
Emmanuel Vargas
Brent Weide
John
