Besides, the weekend before I mentioned the symptoms and everything
I'd checked to my mother, and she immediately said "It doesn't sound
like any of that; sounds like a vacuum leak to me".

LOL!

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 7:14 PM, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 6:28 PM, John Bange <jbange@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Yesterday my work vanagon developed a bad case of the groggies.
> > Started out as an intermittent loss of power, but has developed
> > steadily towards permanence..... Sounds an awful lot like fuel
> > filter. ... Or maybe air flow meter.
>
> An update on my 90 non-GL "Lastwagen". I've been driving the GL
> "Wiesel" for the last several weeks and basically ignoring the other
> van because it was easier than trying to fix it in a dark apartment
> parking garage. This is the problem with having a spare van. I was
> hoping to shine it on a little longer until I move to a house with a
> Real Garage next month, but today Wiesel developed an oil dribble from
> the upper oil cooler O-ring. I am sure I will curse the PO when I see
> how badly it was assembled, but that's something for later, as I won't
> have the replacement O-ring for at least a couple days.
>
> So to make an unnecessarily long story even longer, since I need to
> drive SOMETHING for work, I was forced to get off my hind end and look
> at the non-GL. Over the preceding weeks I had spent many hours
> "studying" the Bentley and "ruminating" over the symptoms in the
> evenings, though my wafe says it looked more like I was sleeping in my
> La-Z-Boy with a book in my lap to her. She clearly does not understand
> the delicate art of Volkswagen engine diagnosis and repair. Of the
> things I had not checked, only two seemed likely: a subtle electrical
> gremlin in the wiring, or a vacuum leak. As checking every dang wire
> in the ECU harness sounded too hard, I figured I'd start with a sanity
> check of every orifice of the intake space downstream of the AFM.
> Besides, the weekend before I mentioned the symptoms and everything
> I'd checked to my mother, and she immediately said "It doesn't sound
> like any of that; sounds like a vacuum leak to me".
>
> Clamped the breather hose shut, no dice. Plugged the carbon canister
> hose and pressure regulator hose, no dice. Checked the clamps on the
> S-shaped rubber accordion-looking piece, no dice. Then i started down
> the brake booster line. Hey, lookie there, the white plastic clamp
> that attaches it to the body line at the firewall was loose--- like
> "spin it around with your finger" loose! Tightened that down and took
> it for a drive. Hey, what do you know, it doesn't die no more! It
> still feels weak, but I think that's just because A) it's heavily
> loaded down with tools and parts for work, and B) it's an automatic
> and the "spare" GL Vanagon I've been driving in its place is a manual.
> It may turn out to be only part of the problem. Time will tell.
>
> Vacuum leak!
>
> --
> John Bange
> '90 Vanagon - "Lastwagen"
> '90 Vanagon GL - "Wiesel"
>