Try the main power relay in the black box that's located above the coil.  I
have these exact symptoms occur on two Vanagons and both of them needed the
40 amp relay replaced.

Cheers,

Jeff

****************************************************************
:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of Don in North Carolina
:::Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 11:02 AM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Engine dies, now which distributor?? (long winded)
:::
:::Hello all!
:::
:::Here is my sad tale of woe:
:::
:::The van - 1988 Vanagon GL
:::
:::The symptoms - While driving, engine would cut out / die for a second,
:::tachometer immediately goes to 0.  Looked around in engine bay, didn't
:::find
:::anything.  Figured I would live with it unless it got worse.  Well, it
:::got
:::worse - while driving at ~55 MPH, engine dies and stays dead.  Coast off
:::the
:::road, try to restart - cranks over but no joy.  Go back, look around the
:::engine compartment, wiggle wires (a technical specialty of mine) try to
:::restart, cranks but no start.  Look in the back again, still don't see
:::anything, try to start - starts right up!, runs like nothing had ever
:::happened.  Drive home, runs fine, no issues.  Do a search on the
:::archives,
:::find a comment from Joy about her issues and how they had found the plug
:::loose going to the black box (CDI box above coil on left hand side of
:::engine
:::bay).  Push on my plug, moves about 1/8 inch and feel a click - Ah hah
:::says
:::I!  Next few days uneventful, van runs well and all seems fine (you can
:::see
:::what's coming, can't you?).  Out on a drive, speed about 45 - engine
:::dies,
:::tachometer goes to 0.  This time it would not start, and after ~45
:::minutes
:::of trying battery is low enough that it obviously isn't going to start.
:::Tow
:::home (thanks AAA+).  Pull battery and charge.  Next morning, put battery
:::back in van (battery is ~8 months old, BTW), on second attempt, van
:::starts
:::and runs fine.  Intermittent problems, the bane of troubleshooters
:::everywhere!
:::
:::The solution (hopefully) - looked in archives (I used different keywords
:::this time), found several mentions of the same type of issue and all were
:::reported to be due to a defective Hall Effect sensor in the distributor.
:::Now I know that the sensor is available separately, but I am planning to
:::replace the complete distributor (piece of mind issue).  The complete
:::distributor is about $70 more than the sensor itself (not counting the
:::new
:::o-rings and anything else you find wrong when working on the
:::distributor).
:::
:::The new problem - there are at least three different part numbers listed
:::for
:::the distributor:
:::0.986.237.639, 0237.520.046 and 025.905.205AG.  It appears that the last
:::two
:::numbers may be for the 90-91 models.  I know that the distributor caps
:::and
:::rotors are different for the 90-91 models, but are the distributors still
:::interchangeable with the old ones - in other words, are the specs the
:::same
:::and will the hall effect plug fit?  What did they change, to "improve"
:::the
:::newer distributors?
:::
:::TIA,
:::Don in Reidsville, NC
:::1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie) - For Sale!
:::1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia)