I found a nice big crack in the exhaust just outside cylinder two. It was
about 1.5 inches long and wrapped almost halfway around the pipe.

Our emissions test stations close at 1:00PM on Saturday so I had to come up
with a quick and dirty fix to see if I could pass. I picked up a "muffler
bandage" (cringe!) for about $3.00. As per the instructions, I cleaned the
affected area and wrapped it with the bandage, adding the included wire that
holds the thing in place while it is curing. The drive to the test station
was just about the right length to meet the instructions for the bandage.

I pulled into the emissions place at 12:55PM and ignored the glare from the
guy at the gate. Lo and behold, my HC was down to 125 (was 225) and CO was
down to 0.09% (was 1.5%). So the leak was definitely the root cause. I
managed to avoid opening the AFM for now.

The crossover pipe will be replaced as soon as I can afford it, I plan to
just swap out the whole system in front of the cat converter since that and
the muffler have been recently replaced. Man, those pipes are expensive!
And, the parts jobber told me they can't get it anymore, he sent me to the
VW dealer. Original parts for the exhaust may be drying up, although I see
that Van Cafe has what I need.

Thanks once again to everyone who pitched in to help me on this one.

Mike Frost
86 Vanagon GL "WasserLeaker" aka "Completely Exhausting"