As I recall, and I may be wrong, the issue here with the AFM track isn't
that it's dirty, it's that hours and hours of wear and tear at a particular
spot actually result in the surface material being etched away, causing the
ECU to think "Oh, the AFM's vane is closed!" and reacting accordingly.  So
I'm not sure that cleaning has much to offer here.

I've had good results by opening up the AFM (air-cooled, and I'm assuming
the water-cooled engine's AFMs are the same), removing the 4 screws that
hold the wiper circuit board, removing the circuit board itself and then
ovalizing the 4 holes in the board that the screws pass through.  You can
then re-install the circuit board in just a slightly different position,
giving the wiper a new track to pass over.

Tom Young

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike "Rocket J Squirrel"" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:30 PM
Subject: AFM track cleaning wisdom

> My mechanic dude suggested the the cause of the engine's periodic but
> brief loss of power during grade climbs last week might be a dirty spot
> on the AFM track and suggested gently cleaning it with a pencil eraser.
>
> I opened it once before, a few years ago, to move the wiper to a fresh
> bit of track. I'll open it again to clean the track.
>
> Is the pencil eraser trick good enough, or would it benefit to use some
> kinda cleaner?
>
> --
> Rocky J Squirrel
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>