Well, I have been a happy vanagon owner for about a month now. I am really
enjoying the van, I have a couple of little quirky things. Over the course
of the last month, the engine has missed ( a cylinder didn't fire), maybe a
total of 5 times, it usually runs silky smooth and strong, well strong for a
vanagon I guess. I am thinking maybe vanagon syndrome???. Sometimes when the
engine is cold, it doesn't quite feel like it has the same power curve, sure
it is strong but it is kind of jerky. My air conditioner, is a R134 type,
and you could keep polar bears comfortable in the van, however the overhead
switch only works on 2 and 4, I took the switch apart and it looks fine, I
understand there may be some kind of box with resistors? Maybe behind the
driver's headlight???? Anybody got one? Oh and what is up with the gas
filler, no matter how slow I go, when it gets full, it spits gas out as the
precise moment the pump kicks off, is this normal? Is there a clogged vent
or something? Other than these quirky things, the van runs perfect, it has
204K miles on it, I bought it from an older man, who gave me a folder with
every receipt for any type of service since the van was new, the engine was
replaced by VW at 100K, the transmission was rebuilt (4spd) about 8K miles
ago, and a new clutch was put in at the same time, and before it was sold,
it was taken to the local VW dealer and they paid for a checkup, the
mechanic gave it an "excellent" and remarked that it was very well
maintained and needed nothing. So here is the big question, it is a 1987
vehicle, what would the consensus be for a long summer road trip, say from
Florida to west Virginia for some mountain biking up at Snowshoe??? I just
don't know that much about them to make a call on possible reliability.

PS, would it be a good idea to run synthetic in the engine and Redline MTL
in the tranny?

Jerry