dear joy:

when you have things fixed, please let the list know what was troubling
matilda.

i have to say, i was disappointed in most of the responses to your post.

the only time i experienced a similar sounding problem with our '84
vanagon it was caused by a spark plug with its gap bridged by deposits,
perhaps debris resulting from recent use of injector/fuel system cleaner.
in any case, the van was essentially running on 3 cylinders, but a new
plug immediately fixed the problem. we never experienced that problem
again. therefore, debris caused by the injector/fuel system cleaner seems
to be the proximate cause of that episode.

best wishes,

dan