Hi Volks:

Thanks to Terry K, Andrew Bell, Joe Romas, William "Developtrust", Richard
Jones and the irreverent Joel Walker for their help. A great big thanks to
local listee Jeff Palmer, who interrupted his "thesis-writing" to drive me
to the store!

If I missed somebody, I am sorry, and I hope you'll forgive me....

Here's the story/saga:

I bought a new rotor and cap today ("Wells" brand - all they had) at
Canadian Tire, and installed them.

There was some moisture on the old rotor's body. Yup.

Van fired right up with new rotor and cap, and I drove for about 5 minutes
before the bucking started again - bucking and stalling like before. It's
puddly and slushy out, fwiw.

* I noticed when I had attached the plug wires to the distributor, how
little grip the distributor cap had on the plug wires - they'll lift off
with hardly any force at all. A sparrow could easily pluck them out., (Watch
out for that belt and pulley, Mr Sparrow!... ..oh geeze!)

So, I wonder if this is normal for plug wires - or if I should buy a new
set - I don't know how old mine are, but they're at least 3 years old.

* I also noticed that there was a convex dished plate that sat below the
rotor, and above the distributor body - this plate seemed to not have
anything to grip it - it looks like it should snap down - but it just sits
there. Hmm.

Because my parking stall is full of slush, it wasn't safe to jack up the van
to put in my new fuel filter - but I guess a plugged filter could also be a
cause of the problem.

All suggestions (helpful, that is) are welcomed.

Marshall Ruskin
84 Westy "The Weekend PITA"