I thought this was a no-no as per the bentley manual.  It has warnings about
not disconnecting ignition wires while cranking or running..

Brad

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Lawrence Johnson
Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2000 8:47 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Which cylinder isn't firing??

d t wrote:

> <My conclusion: one (or more) of the cylinders is not firing, resulting in
> reduced power, uneven running and unburned gas smell. Occasionaly, I feel
> minute power surges suggesting that the faulting cylinder/s do/es fire
> sometimes.>
> snip< can anyone point me to a debug procedure (in the Bentley or Haynes
> manuals) to
> find out which cylinder is not firing externally >

d t
You could systematically remove each spark plug ignition wire one by one
from the
distributor cap. The wire which causes the least effect on the engine's
even
running is connected to the faulty spark plug.
-Larry