Well get her on the list to help vanagons owners with tech issues and
challenges !

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Milo" <dellaone@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: Weak..... so weak

> 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"
>>