When that happened to me it turned out that the catalytic converter was
all broken up inside and minimal exhaust would go through.  Idled great,
but no power.  it wasn't until another Van pulled up beside me and I
walked behind it and felt the power of the exhaust against my leg that I
realized it was an exhaust problem at all.

Gregor

Paul Borghese wrote:
>
> My vanagon is depressed and does not want to go anywhere.   So how do I cheer it up?
>
> It will idle smooth as silk, but when asked to actually move, the van seems to have no power.  And I am not talking about it being
> slightly sluggish.  It has almost no power.  It can barely make it up the hill that I live on - I shutter to think what will happen
> if the wind changes direction.  On the highway I maybe can hit 40 on a flat surface.  But when idling it sounds good.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Paul Borghese