Sounds to me like the AFM... as I had a similar problem with our friends 90
Westy... it also had now power, bad hesitation, bucking, etc.  I found that
the plug to the AFM had come lose, and when I cleaned it and plugged it back
in, the problems vanished.  A simple fix for me!  Sometimes just having a
lose clamp or a crack in the airflow past the AFM can cause problems as
well.

Good luck!

Jack R.
84 Westy Wolfie, with a 2.1L

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Allan Streib
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:17 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Hesitation, bucking, rough idle then died. The paranoia
begins...

I don't know what the cause is, but it sounds exactly like what has
started happening in my '91 after it's warmed up, then I stop somewhere
for a short time (15 - 30 minutes).

It's almost like the ECU is not handling the "warm but not fully warm"
condition properly.  In the summer I was having a much more serious case
of these symptoms (i.e. the low power/hesitation/stalling would last
more than just a few seconds).  I replaced my "Temp II" sensor which
seemed to completely cure the problem, but now it seems to be returning
or something else with similar symptoms is going on.

Allan
--
1991 Vanagon GL

Mark A Kippert <vanagon@KIPPERT.COM> writes:

> Time for the newbie's first issue :^)
>
> My Vanagon ('86 GL) has been running just fine for the few short trips
> I've made around the neighborhood until this morning, when I took a 30
> mile round trip, mostly on the highway. I stopped at a Volvo dealer to
> pick up a part (sigh, another project). Upon leaving I started the
> van, backed out of the parking space, started to pull away and
> experienced some bucking. Gave it more gas and the bucking stop but
> had practically no power. Gave it more gas (about half throttle) at
> which it continued to bog down and then died. My first thought was
> that I remembered reading about a similar problem on the list. The
> idle control valve came to mind.
>
> Anyhow, I turned the key off for a few seconds and then restarted the
> engine. Varoom, it fired right up, no hesitation, no bucking, no
> nothing. I drove away without a hitch. !?!?!?!? Is this a lone
> incident? A quirk? Or should I expect it to worsen? (the later I think).
>
> One more thing. As I'm driving home on the highway, averaging 60-65
> MPH, I notice a burp, or blip. It was as if someone flipped a switch
> off, then back on very quickly. It seemed to happen only under mild
> acceleration as I would compensate to keep the van at a consistent
> speed.
>
> Do these sound like symptoms of the same problem, or two separate
> issues?
>
> -Mark

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