Bingo - my new 87 Westy has the exact symptoms.  I assumed it was the 
vanagon syndrome" so I have changed fuel pump, fuel filter, put the
capacitor in the AFM, new plug wires, distributor cap and rotor with no
improvement.  I think I'll wait until Spring to take to shop.  Todd, please
share the fix when you find it.

Larry

87 Westy

 

-------Original Message-------

 

From: Todd Last

Date: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 5:16:24 PM

To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

Subject: Ignition cutout on 2.1L

 

I'm having a strange thing happen on my '88 2.1L

Usually within a few minutes of driving, the engine will die, or cut out. I
notice that the tach needle will drop to 0 like the power has been cut -
(fast drop rather than actually following the engine RPMs)

Restarting will cause the engine to briefly catch then missfire and die.

restarting a few more times, then flooring the gas will eventually let the
engine rev fast enough to get past the missfiring - and after 5-10 attempts
at restarting it will run and not cause any further problems.

While driving I've tried jiggling the ignition key thinking that would show
any problems with the switch.

It has no effects.

Any ideas?

thank you

Todd

'88 Westy