Dave,

I am gonna go out on a limb here, but I know when i had bucking probs with
my vanagon it was cured by running new ground...straight from the battery to
the starter...

I never got around to removing it and clean and fix the real ground....

Could you have a loose ground somewhere that is getting sort of knocked out
of place when you go over the bump?

Just a thought...

Dave
85 GL "Baby Bus"
85 "Goldy"

On 5/23/06, David Gunning <davidgunning@pivot.net> wrote:
>
> You mean one of those expensive 6" extention cords that plugs into the Air
> Flow Meter?  Did not realize they were specifically designed for the 2.1L,
> but in any event I have one of those, already.  No, not sure what the
> "vanagon syndrome" is exactly, but the symptom of this "hiccup" is that it's
> very much like a backfire.  Sometimes there is even a puff of black smoke
> that pops from the exhaust when It happens.  Makes me feel kinda like the
> "Lone Ranger" where when they used to say at the end of the show:"with his
> trusted companion Tonto, his horse Trigger,  and with a cloud of smoke, Up,
> Up and awaaaay, The Lone Ranger Rides, Again!"
>
> I suspect it is a momentary grounding short curcuit of the primary
> electric caused by the jolt of the bump.  I have noticed, at previous times,
> that the inside of the distributor cap has been obviously zapped by high
> voltage, and that when the distrutor cap is replaced with a new distributor
> cap the problem is eliminated, for the time being.  Must have something to
> do with the high voltage requirement of the fuel injector negatively
> impacting the operating system electrical capacity by a sudden big bump.
>
> Maybe it's the distributor worn somewhere and that that gets jostled and
> momentarily shorts out, causing a backfire.  Of course,  the same symptom
> could maybe be caused by the ignition system momentarily shorting-out, for
> some unknown reason.
>
> I will say one thing for sure, there is never a dull moment when dealing
> with the bucking bronco mentality of a VW vanagon motor.
>
> And I can't never seem to find a silver bullet when I really need one!
>
> Dave
>
> davidgunning@pivot.net
>
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: JordanVw@aol.com
>   To: davidgunning@PIVOT.NET ; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>   Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 2:42 AM
>   Subject: Re: 1.9L Hiccup Remedy?
>
>
>   i dont know if this is a coincodence or what, but i used one of those
> "vanagon syndrome" AFM harness connectors (designed for a 2.1L) on my 1.9Land havent had that problem since...
>
>   chris
>
>   In a message dated 5/22/06 5:47:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> davidgunning@PIVOT.NET writes:
>
>
>
>
>     Used to be that one of my vanagon's deepest, darkest secrets was the
> occasional need to "hiccup"  (cough, cough) while tooling along down the
> road, minding it's own business.  It usually happens when going over a big
> bump in the road, a dreaded Maine leftover winter frostheave or springtime
> bottomless-pit-all-consuming pothole.  The usual treatment, which seems to
> work, is to change the sparkplugs, which eliminates the problem until the
> next time it happens.
>
>     Recently spied a reference to someone else citing the "dreaded vanagon
> hiccup" on an internet web site, which suggests to me that this may be more
> a common problem than I initially realized.
>
>     Wonder if there are any other vanagon drivers willing to come out of
> the closet concerning this issue?
>
>     And, more significantly, what might be done (cough, cough) to
> eliminate the problem.
>
>     Dave
>
>     davigunning@pivot.net
>

-- 
Dave - KC9FYM
http://fjazzbass.blogspot.com