Earth to Space Kommander!

I thought that was fitting.

Anyway, about your idle problem.  I had a nasty idle problem with my '85
until I found a couple of vacuum leaks.  Once those were corrected she
started purring like a kitten.  Also, you may want to check the vacuum lines
going to and from your idle booster solenoids.

Good Luck!

Chris.
'85 Westy.
----- Original Message -----
From: SpaceKommander <jboldway@COTTAGESOFT.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2001 7:40 PM
Subject: Idle problems on 85 westy

> Hello!
> (wrote this about 3 weeks ago but frogot to send)
> Just read some comments on O2 sensor wire being coaxial and thought that
> would solve my problem - but my 02 sensor isn't coax - just terminates
with
> spade plug. Anyway, It used to idle around 800 rpm which was just fine but
> for the last few months it seems to idle at about 1700 rpm. Checked cable
> and such - can't find problem. Any ideas?
> Oh, and a comment to list members who own Vanagons and live in hot
climates
> - 2 days ago I was heading home and all of a sudden I was unable to shift
> from 4th gear. Shifting had been hard for the past few weeks as I was
> having a hard time finding 2nd from being in 3rd. Figured I just needed a
> bit of lube on the linkage. Getting stuck in 4th was no fun. Limped home
> and discovered plastic gimbal socket where shifter passes through floor
was
> all split up with little bits of plastic and me being able to move the
> shifter up and down over a 4" range. I'm sure the problem was that heat
and
> age had caused the plastic to bite the bullet.
>
> (nope - dead tranny - got a new one from AA transaxle - very fast service)
>  A few months ago my visor fell down a bit as the plastic visor retainer
> broke - from the 140 degree heat the car gets inside here in Kansas even
> with a window shade and the windows cracked. Hate to put the pimpmobile
> gold reflective window shading on as the dark black window shades help -
> but not enough. Oh well - van is gold anyway so hopefully it won't look
too
> bad.
> Whole point of this diatribe is to warn people who live in hot climates
> that they might want to shell out the $50.30 at the VW dealer to replace
> every single hunk of plastic and rubber in their shifting mechanism. Cheap
> insurance versus getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with a hundred
> dollar towing bill . . . .
>
> And . . . another comment - Mynd you, Moose bites Kan be pretti
nasti.... -
> woops - I mean the Seattle VW specific junkyard can be a treasure trove
for
> vanagon owners. All the stuff that you can't easily get from places like
> the Bus Depot and such is very cheap. No sense trying to save a few bucks
> on a part of unknown quality from a wrecked car when you can easily get a
> new one but some things like the door air thingey that mounts in the rear
> bottom of the driver's door along with the oval grille that is in the door
> pillar. Both were missing from my Vanagon and the cost for both was a
> whopping $4 total from the Seattle VW junkyard. Saw about 7-9 Vanagons
> fairly complete and about as many split windows. Saw only one bay window
> and a 142 Mexican whooping llamas. What gives?
> Again, the VW junkyard in Seattle is a verry nice plae, you know . . . .