Thanks to everyone who offered up ideas on diagnosing my not-so-intermittent
power loss problem.  Happens repeatedly every drive and always goes away
when I switch off the ignition and restart.

The three recurring suggestions from list members were:
1)  Hall sender wires are shorting out on distributor body therefore replace
Hall unit or entire distributor;
2)  test/replace O2 sensor; and
3)  undergo treatment for "Vanagon Syndrome".

So far I have tried the following:
1)  disconnected O2 sensor and did test drive - power dropped off 5 minutes
into drive - restart engine - everything ok for 2-3 minutes - repeat...
2)  removed distributor cap and rotor, wrapped electrical tape around the
Hall sender's wires and connectors to eliminate any possibility of shorting
- reassembled and test drove with same results as in attempt #1.
3)  picked up a 22uF x 15V capacitor and installed in the AFM per
instructions on Harold and Nancy's website.  Test drive - same symptoms.

So, I have a couple of questions:
1)  does my O2 sensor test prove that it is not at fault?
2)  any other thoughts on the cause of this problem?

Thanks all!

Eric
'89 Westy
Vancouver BC
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Eric Unrau
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:33 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Losing power...

Hello all,

For the last week I have been experiencing a random loss of power in my '89
Westy.  Everything will seem normal as I am driving along, and then suddenly
the power will drop off to about 40-50%.

The first time it happened, I pulled over the side of the road, shut the
engine off and checked all the connectors at the plugs, coil, distributor,
Hall sender, etc.  I didn't find anything that was noticeably loose but when
I got back in the van it started up fine, so I though I might have pushed a
wire into place that wasn't obviously loose.

I continued driving and 10 minutes later the power drops off again.  This
time I pulled over and left the engine running/sputtering; checked the wires
again and when I gently jiggled the connector on the Hall sender (it hangs
somewhat loosely off the side of the distributor) I heard a buzzing sound
(short cct?) and the engine stalled.  Started it up again, sounded fine so I
drove off - again all seemed normal.  This happened a couple more times over
the next 30 minutes of driving (did I mention my unhappy passenger/wife is 9
months + 2days pregnant?) and I continued to look for loose wires each time
- and managed to stall the engine each time I wiggled the connection to the
hall sender.

Assuming that the loose hall sender connection was the problem, the
following day I wrapped 14 gauge wire around the distributor to immobilize
the hall sender connector and then took it out for a test drive.  All seemed
good for the first five minutes or so until the power dropped off -
apparently my brilliant fix wasn't so smart.  This time I was rolling along
on a quiet street an it dawned on me that normal power always seems to be
there when the engine is started, so I gave it a try.  I shut the ignition
off for 2 seconds and restarted as I was rolling along the street and sure
enough the engine seemed to be running normally again.  As I continued
driving I experienced a couple more power loss cycles that were corrected
immediately be turning the ignition off and restarting the engine.

Any and all suggestions on a diagnosis of this problem are welcome.  The
Hall sender connector has been hanging off the side of the distributor since
I purchased the van from the PO but has never caused this problem in the
past.  Probably should replace it to eliminate it as a possibility, but if
it is something else.

Thanks

Eric

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