This is just FYI for anybody else troubleshooting a non-running (or poor running) condition. I went to Bus Brrrr last weekend and had a good time meeting many other Vanagon owners. The round trip of about 340 miles was only interupted by a few stops to top of my coolant (minor head gasket leak). Thankfully my van decided to wait until I got home to crap out.

The first sign of trouble was difficulty idling which started sometime during the trip. Once I got home I unloaded my van (including spare parts) and headed for the car was. Along the way it started running rough and losing power (couldn't accelerate). I quickly pulled into a parking lot where it promptly died. This all happened in less than a minute. When i would crank the engine it would sputter for a fraction of a second then crank for about three, sputter again and repeat.

After going through a number troubleshooting checks and getting nothing, I disconnected the AFM and it started right up. Plug it in, nothing, unplug, it starts. It ran a little rough but had power. So I called my son and had him bring the spare AFM/air cleaner assembly (which I had unloaded from the van just 30 minutes before). After installing it the van has run fine ever since, which I suppose is all relative since it's always run a bit rough, but it runs as good as it did prior to my trip.

It's interesting how quickly it failed. Should I attempt to repair it? Or rebuild it? I'm a good mechanic but not so good at these old electronics so I may be better off having someone who knows what they're doing repair/rebuild it. I'd sure like to have another spare around.

Mark K
1986 GL/2WD/4SPD "Old Gold"
1990 Carat/2WD/Auto "Carol"