It's a fuel injected CIS engine - installed years before I bought it
No black smoke from tail pipe
Not sure what you mean by bog down. First time I noticed it (after about 45
min in construction zone stop and start) it felt just like I had run out of
gas. But the tank was 1/2 full. It's also happened when I'm just driving
along, and when it's left idling (no recovery when it's idling because no
foot on gas. It just cuts out)
Whatever the problem, I can't fix it myself and I HATE getting to trust a
new mechanic. Doubt the alternator explanation myself, but my car mechanic
knowledge is about 0.5 on a scale of 1 - 10.
-----Original Message-----
From: Alistair Bell [mailto:albell@shaw.ca]
Sent: March 14, 2010 3:27 PM
To: Pat Sloan
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Engine Interrupted. Any Ideas, Please?

can you tell us more about the motor? CIS or Digifant, guessing the
former...

does it bog down? black smoke from tail pipe?

doubting alternator explanation

alistair

On 14-Mar-10, at 5:14 PM, Pat Sloan wrote:

Hi all,

The Otter is having digestive problems. We're talking 1982 Westy -
originally diesel but now converted to 1987 1.8 L Jetta gas engine.
Watercooled.

As I'm driving it suddenly loses power and then recovers again and
again.
Sometimes it just loses power and doesn't recover until I stop and then
start it again.

Fuel lines, fuel pump and battery have been replaced. All seems good,
but
the problem persists.

Now it turns out that my great vanagon repair guy (Ed @ the Bug Shop in
Delta, BC) doesn't work on Jetta engines, so I will have to move on to
someone else. Does anyone on the list have any ideas re:

1.      good and reasonable Jetta mechanics in the Vancouver area?
2.      what could be causing this? (BCAA guy suggested alternator
but what
do I know?)

Thanks everyone. It's such a great resource to be able to call on so
much
experience in times of trouble.

Hopefully, Pat

(whowantstogetcampingsoon!)