I had a similar problem in my 1990.    Finally tracked it down to

the Fuel Inj temp sensor.

Listee Ben has a helpful write up on it.

http://www.benplace.com/temp_sender.htm

THANKS BEN!

Actually took about one minute to replace and spilled 1/2 cup of

coolant into a bucket doing it.

You can do it standing right over the engine compartment.

dont forget to bleed the cooling system afterwards.

Fixed the problem instantly.

Tom

        ----------
        From:   Vanagon Mailing List on behalf of Ki
        Reply To:       Ki
        Sent:   Tuesday, June 8, 2004 1:58 PM
        To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
        Subject:        idling probalems

        i'm having some problems with my idle when i start the gan form
cold.  it
        drops and sometimes drops too low so that the van cannot stay
started.
        it's fine once i get teh van warmed up.  do i need to replace the
idle
        stagbilizer valve?