Matt:

I will offer one piece of advice as you embark on your new journey of
Vanagon ownership (and maintenance)...

The "parts-swapping" method of troubleshooting will quickly get VERY
expensive with a Vanagon.  It sounds like you are on the right track with
your Bentley and have a pretty good handle of the basics you will need to
work on the car your self - that is great.  Now you have this great list to
help you hone your *diagnostic* skills, which will save you tons of money
and frustration.

As to your ECU question, yes you are correct.  It is the unit located under
the back seat, and takes input from all those sensors and determines the
fuel metering based on that input.

To me (a relative novice at this, since I don't do most of my own work due
to time constraints) it sounds like you are running excessively rich.  This
probably indicates a problem with one of the temp sensors (thinking that it
is in cold start mode).  There is a diagnostic procedure in the Bentley to
test the inputs from these various sensors.  I would recommend running the
tests before you start randomly swapping parts.

Good luck and welcome to the List!

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA

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