Hi Volks,

Recently my Dad's 85 sunroof passenger van has started making clouds
of white smoke when starting up. It's also been running rough and
will stall when put into drive until it gets warmed up. It had also
developed a habit of not kicking down into 3rd gear until the rpms
reached 3500 in 2nd.

Dad took it to a local shop yesterday and they told him that the fuel
pressure regulator had failed and was allowing fuel to seep into the
vacuum system. They quoted a very high cost for the part ($265 CDN)
and suggested it needed to be replaced ASAP because it was also
affecting the transmission.

I don't have a vanagon Bentley on hand, but I can't see (understand)
how the vacuum system and the auto transmission are connected. The
vehicle is currently 20 miles away,   so I can't just pop the hood
and take a look, either.  I thought that VW gave up on vacuum shift
automatics in 1975???

Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated. Frank Condelli
helped Dad find a more appropriately priced FPR and Dad will be
installing it this afternoon.

Happy Trails,

Greg Potts
1973/74/75/77/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
www.pottsfamily.ca/westfakia
www.busesofthecorn.com