on 10/2/2000 11:39 PM, Alan S Gondry at alangondry@JUNO.COM wrote:

> My 1983 H20 Vanagon will not start after being parked and tried to start
> after 10 minutes.  Before this I noticed that it ran sluggish, but not so
> significant to worry.  Upon several times cranking the engine I could
> smell gas.  I can only assume that the gas is getting to the engine.
> After investigation, I decided to replace the points and distributor cap
> due to corrosion, etc.   I have a plug wire tester and noticed I am
> getting spark.
>
> By the way, after all the poking around it started once with the throttle
> open, then it ran normal.  I thought I would see if it would happen to
> start again, problem solved, but back to same thing.  I evan left it for
> 45 minutes and it will not start.
>
> Also note I recently did some work on my expansion tank.  I forgot to
> plug the temp sender in and got a hot light on and thought I was over
> heating, the tank was full when opened.
>
> So it since at the parking lot where it died.
>
> Any advice would be helpful.

Alan check the Temp II sender and your throttle switches. That's what it
sounds like . Anywho, It's a cheap fix and doesn't take long. If you've got
a lot of miles on your bus then I'd have a spare anyway. Without these, the
1.9's won't run for very long.
Unplug the sender, clean up all the contacts for the plug. Then, with a
short screwdriver or something like it, push ever so slightly on the blades
of the Temp II sender terminals to increase the chance of a good contact
with the harness connector.
The throttle switches should emit audible clicks just prior to full WOT and
just before throttle at idle. If these are dirty then you might want to
clean them up when you get the chance.