Sounds like my brother in law, who was an F-111 pilot--when they have
electrical problems on the ground, they have a procedure called "Master
Restart"--yep, shut it off, start it up again.  Gives you a warm fuzzy
feeling when you're going Mach 1 over enemy territory, I'm sure...
bmc  :)
"Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel...."

> From: Anthony Bailey <abailey@MAC.COM>
> Reply-To: Anthony Bailey <abailey@MAC.COM>
> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 08:06:41 -0600
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Strange problem with '91 Carat
> 
> Hey Tom, I'd be interested in what you find out. My van did a similiar
> thing on my trip to see my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday (3 hour
> trip). It would gradually lose power until I could only do about 35 mph.
> I pulled off the road, it would rev up okay, but wouldn't pull very
> well. It finally after a few minutes went away and then 30 minutes
> later, it did it again. This time I turned the Van off and when I
> restarted it worked fine... My wife has had this happen once or twice
> since she starting driving it, we figured at that time it might have
> been water in the gas, now I'm thinking fuel filter... However, as luck
> would have it, it worked fine all the rest of the way home that evening..
> Go figure, Tony
> 
> 87 Vanagon GL Wolfsburg Edition (still looking for a name)
> 
> On Tuesday, November 27, 2001, at 09:20  PM, Tom Stone wrote:
> 
>> I just returned from a Thanksgiving week trip from central Illinois to
>> Silverthorne, CO and back -- about 2400 miles in all.� The van handled
>> the job remarkably in most respects.� Mileage was 17.7 mpg on the
>> westward leg (uphill with an occasional west wind) and 20.1 on the
>> return (downhill with the same wind).� This fall, I redid the valve
>> adjustments and installed a new, more accurate fuel pressure
>> regulator.� I couldn't be happier with the mileage and performance in
>> general.
>> 
>> However, when driving for extended periods of time with the cruise
>> control on, I began to experience Vanagon syndrome.� Sometimes just a
>> little hiccup every now and then but occasionally a gut-wrenching, rod
>> throwing, valve sticking sensation that forced the foot to the clutch
>> pedal and that van to the side of the road while I listened for
>> expensive noises.� I fiddled with turning the key off and coasting for
>> a few seconds and with varying the speed and that seemed to help so I'm
>> pretty certain it is Vanagon syndrome.� I have the info on how to fix
>> this with the tantalum capacitor so I'll attack it� before a trip to
>> Florida and back for Christmas.
>> 
>> Another problem occurred that I have not seen mentioned on the list.�
>> If, after sustained driving at speed with the cruise on, I pulled off
>> onto an exit ramp and slowed down, the van would not rev smoothly.� It
>> would idle, occasionally stall, and rev very slowly regardless of the
>> pedal position until it reached 3k or so and then it would rev at
>> higher rpms OK.� When I stopped for gas or to eat and the van cooled
>> down, it would rev OK until I got on the highway.� I said "cool down"
>> but the engine was not hot, the needle was mid point-between the light
>> and the marker on the cold side and the outside temperatures were in
>> the 30-60 range.� I don't think it was heat related.�
>> 
>> Could this be related to the Vanagon syndrome, which I understand is
>> caused by static electricity affecting the FI computer?� Both problems
>> seemed to go away when the engine was not running for 15 mins. or so.�
>> I plan to check the AFM tracks as well.� Any thoughts are appreciated.
>> 
>> Tom
>> '71 Westy, '85 Westy, '91 Carat
>> 
>> 
> ----------
> this is coming to you from Anthony Bailey KC0HZP
> (mailto:abailey@mac.com) Marble Hill, Missouri 63764
>