I'll have to rephrase my question from a couple of weeks ago
into the form of the problem.  I wanted to know which
systems were influenced by resetting of the ECU.

My 86 2.1 2WD van has developed "The Vanagon Syndrome" but
BEFORE anybody starts emailing me about capacitors and
pigtails and other such goop, I already have the factory AFM
pigtail harness, a'ight?  Save those emails.

My van will hesitate, lose power and run brutally rich, and
turning off the key and turning it back on quickly will
reset it and get rid of the problem.  For a few seconds.
Now, it doesn't only do this on the highway at sustained
speeds, it will do it around town.  It has done it to me
just idling in the driveway, from a cold start to not even
being warm yet.  Ran fine, then ran rich, spat black soot on
my driveway, sputtered (dying idle) and died.  It will also
go away for a while, then come back (unpredictable).

My first head scratching instinct is to suspect the idle
circuit or possibly the fuel pressure regulator (but it's
not part of anything electrical connected to ECU)?  Since it
does it before even getting warm, I presume it's not O2
sensor related.  It seems to have started doing this after
running out of gas, but I replaced the fuel filter already
(brand new one too, grrrr....).  That's why I was looking
for what systems resetting the ECU will affect...

Danke schoen
Keith Adams
calgary.ab.ca
86 Westy