Good day to you all, I have an 80 Vanagon (affectionately known as Rusty
for obvious reasons!) that we bought last summer.

It starts fine every time (ok it was rough at -20c for a bit but
Edmonton will do that to anything) - but by the time we get to the first
or second stop light the idle slows and slows until either I rev it in
gear with my foot on the brake or it stalls.

When it stalls it's an embarrassing 5 minutes of pumping and cranking
and then it fires up and it's fine.

Sounds like vacuum eh?

Here's the weird part. I have all the bills back to the dawn of time
from the previous owner and it seems every year he had it into the local
mechanic "Darsch" and in an hour or two the problem was seemingly
resolved for a year. Fine, except that the motor was changed entirely 3
years ago and the problem persisted.

So I'm thinking its not vacuum it's a tertiary component, some
electronic dewhicky.

It's my first vee-dub and I don't mind getting my hands dirty but it
seems a waste of an hour or two of shop time to look at the same problem
each year.

Any ideas?

Also, anyone know where I can get a knob for the Gas valve on the
fridge? And any experience in changing the DC heating unit on the
fridge?

Thanks loads in advance,

Eric (and Rusty)