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<P>I'm stuck in Pueblo, CO with my 85 Westy and my incredibly good spirited and encouraging partner, Kerri.&nbsp; I would appreciate any ideas before I visit the VW dealer in the morning.</P>
<P><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Background:&nbsp; </FONT>I just bought the Westy in Tennessee, and am driving it back to Seattle.&nbsp; It ran great from Tennessee to Pueblo, and upon arriving in Pueblo today, and driving in stop and go traffic for about 15 minutes in 97 degree heat, the symptoms started.</P>
<P>Symptom:&nbsp; The 85 Westy's (with manual trans) engine cuts out, hesitates, runs irregularly, and finally dies altogether when it gets hot.&nbsp; This progression takes about 30 seconds.&nbsp; While the symptoms are happening, I can kind of &quot;feather&quot; the throttle, and keep it running for a little longer - especially if I can get it up over 2000 RPM.&nbsp; Immediately after it dies, it cranks fine, but won't re-start.&nbsp; After letting it sit for about 15 minutes, it will start and run normally for about 5 minutes, then the symptoms start over again.&nbsp; I've repeated this process 5 times now, and it acts the same each time.&nbsp; The coolant temp gage reads normal (about mid-scale) all through this, but I'd guess the temp in the engine compartment was the highest it's been since I picked up the van.</P>
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<P>Here's what I've done so far, and none of this has changed the symptoms at all:&nbsp; When I looked at the engine after it died the first time, the hose from the crankcase breather to the air intake boot (about 1 inch diameter hose) was sucked flat in the middle.&nbsp; It had lost all it's stiffness - heat? and was floppy.&nbsp; I replaced it with a nice stiff hose of just the right size from Auto Zone.&nbsp; Free too - it was a scrap.&nbsp; Thanks Auto Zone.&nbsp; It didn't do any good, though, still had the exact same symptoms.&nbsp; After that, I replaced the air filter, cap and rotor, plugs, plug wires, all of the little fabric coated vacuum lines, and fuel filter.&nbsp; The rotor was really bad looking - the center contact was broken off from the metal strip leading to the spinning rim piece.&nbsp; Must have been sparking across the little gap.&nbsp; And two of the plugs were loose.&nbsp; Anyway, that's all interesting, but none of it helped.&nbsp; I brought all those parts with me &quot;just in case&quot;, and it's Sunday afternoon, so might as well put 'em in, huh?&nbsp; I also tried to replace the O2 sensor, but couldn't get the old one unscrewed.&nbsp; It is full of gas &amp; oil level's fine.</P>
<P>Here's what I haven't done:&nbsp; Any real troubleshooting to isolate whether it is a fuel delivery problem or a spark problem.&nbsp; I guess I'm going to leave that for the dealer in the morning, but any thoughts on these symptoms would be greatly appreciated.&nbsp; Thanks.</P></DIV><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href="http://explorer.msn.com">http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p></html>