I tried to test the switch last night with a Heathkit multitester that I got
a long time ago from a friend.  I got no readings whatsoever:  the ohm-meter
never moved off of the infinity end of the scale no matter how much I moved
the throttle switch around.  I also tried messing with the knobs on the
tester but to no avail.  I thought this kind of test was supposed to be
easy.  Am I (still) doing something wrong here?

I know the bus is running rich because I've removed the plugs a couple of
times to clean them and yes, they were very black.  And while I didn't get
complete satisfaction from the mechanics, they did what I asked them to do
and that was to get the thing running.  You're right: they chose the
low-hanging fruit, but at least it was cheap stuff and they didn't do any
harm by going into stuff for which they had no experience.  I use these guys
for our "normal" car and they do well enough.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Geza Polony
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 9:29 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Running rich.....me too

You have other things to consider. But first, what makes you think it's
running rich? You don't say.

Replacing the plugs, rotor, etc. will never cure a running rich problem.
Shops do this because it's the easiest thing they can imagine besides giving
it a tire polish. Puts money in the till, but not much more. Careful--next
they'll want to replace the ECU, another easy one that almost never solves
any problems.

What you should really be paying for is a mechanic with diagnostic
abilities.