All, thanks for contributing to such a great list. I've thoroughly enjoyed
combing through the archives the last few days. Very informative!

However, my 88vanagon is having a couple issues that I was not quite able to
pinpoint, and was wondering if I could get a few pointers. First off, I can
turn a wrench, take things apart and reassemble when explained, but i'm not
a certified VW mechanic. Second, it's not my daily driver, i've put on maybe
10K in the last 3.5 years. When I bought it, my mechanic put in new cap,
rotor, wires, plugs, and filters. Everything ran fine for the first year.
The last couple years I've had the issues.

Issue #1: During normal driving conditions, at stop, it will be idling at
900 rpm's, then suddenly it will dip down to 400rpm's, jump up to 1400rpm's,
then suddenly die. Sometimes, it will start up again, but lately, it won't.
I have to let it sit for 5 minutes, or roll it down hill, and clutch start
it. Then, race home, trying not to let it get below 2000rpm's.

Issue#2: Perhaps unrelated, or related, lately it's having a real hard time
starting. It will crank and crank and it seems as if one cylinder is
catching, but the others are not. Then, it will start to fire ( i think ),
cylinder by cylinder, then be fine. It will idle for about 5 minutes,
normally(good strong idle), then die. Then, I can't get it to start. Where
i'm at now, it won't start.

Any ideas/suggestions/comments/plan of attack would be greatly appreciated!
If you have any parts swap recommendations, please tell me where they are
located as I have an outdated Bentley(83). For reference, here's a pic of my
engine bay:

http://i18.tinypic.com/2zs0375.jpg

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

-chris