If you haven't done this,
get an infrared thermometer (a "point and shoot" temperature gun) and point
it at the different exhaust headers right after startup. If one of the
cylinders is missing, it should be noticeably colder than the others.

If all the cylinders are the same, I would check your aux idle valve.  I
don't know if they're the same on your '87, but on the 1.9's they apparently
fail pretty often and can mean you have very low idle at startup.  (The
point of the valve is to add more throttle until the engine has warmed up a
bit).

-Wes

On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Michael Hart <mjhart853@yahoo.com> wrote:

> I previously posted (Nov '08) about rough idle and stalling problems on my
> '87 Westy (stock 2.1L engine). and got lots of good advice (Thanks to BenT,
> Mike Miller, Chris S. etc.). Based on that & the excellent article on
> Van-cafe's website, I changed many items - service items (plugs, plug wires,
> distributor cap & rotor, air filter, fuel filter); O2 sensor replaced; fuel
> pump replaced (and there was no fuel restriction at the tank); swopped out
> ECU, idle computer (no effect)
>
> Since then I've driven the van for 2000 miles without any repetition of the
> original problem (engine stalled out when hot, ran extremely rough and
> stalled out after ~1 minute when re-started from hot or cold, would not go
> more than 100 yards).
>
> After that things have been much better, but still not quite right. On cold
> mornings (relative at least, it does go down to 30F in the 'depths of
> winter' here in N. CA), the engine runs very low rpm and stalls out in idle
> (need to keep your foot on the gas). This only lasts for a minute or so, the
> engine seems to warm up very quickly to normal idle. Other than that, mpg is
> lower than I've been used to (now ~18mpg vs. ~20mpg before). No noticeable
> loss of power, the van cruises fine as before.
>
> Any ideas on next steps (I haven't changed the idle control valve yet;
> disconnecting it prevented the engine from starting at all)
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
> '87 Westy (2.1L)
> Palo Alto, CA
>