Volks, speaking of close knit tribes that like to gather and be silly
every now and then (hmmm...sounds familiar, and Fryeday is around the
corner) I must report on the recent attempts at exorcising some of my
Vanagon Demons.

The Case of the Fluctuating Idle: I've been fighting this one since the
beginning of spring since winter had me more focused on hoping the
accelerator cable wouldn't freeze open and swing me against the first
oncoming snow plow.  Bottom Line, The Ground wire between the Chassis and
the left head (That would be the rational/calculating head)was the
culprit.

 After a mediocre attempt at loosing this wire to clean and refresh the
contacts I simply gave up and sprayed some Rust Eater fluid.  Well, that
half ass attempt was enough to re-generate some grounding and now my idle
is flush at ~950-1000, even after long drives! Demon ivolved: Bad Bad
Grounds!  Reading thru the archives I've heard of 7 or so grounds. So far
I've done two, My question is: Will something like a baking soda/water
solution help clean the grounds?? What do y'all recommend?

The Case of the Non-Starting Starter: Since this topic has been floating
around lately, and we've all agree that Whacking the starter is a standard
emergency procedure, I've confirmed by using the scientific method an
alternative to this. It involves having a manual tranny: Place the Van in
First gear and crank it without the clutch. You'll look dumb, but when you
try to start the van again (depress the clutch this time ;)it will crank!
Please note that my "controlled" sampling involved two separate instances
so YMMV. Not sure how detrimental this is but if you are out on a date and
you turn the key and ....

That's It!!

Jorge
'85 Westy Weekender Betsy a.k.a "Plan B"

PS: Please stop talking about BM, I'm green with envy!!!