Hello Joy:

I have had similar maladies with my '84.  Two culprits:  (1) Corrosion
on the connections between the sparkplug wires and the tops of the #1
and #3 plugs; and (2) Dirt, corrosion or whatever on the connection
between the fuel injection cable and the ECU.  More recently, I found
that bad performance had come from premature wear on distributor rotor
and cap.

John

On Sun, 2011-03-27 at 15:50 -0230, Joy Hecht wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Got a vanagon question!  No halogen lights, no list-language discussions,
> all vanagon.
>
> My engine has an intermittent problem.  It dies while driving.  This has
> been going on for a long time (since last fall).  I'm driving along, usually
> (but not always) at fairly slow speed, in suburban or urban driving, and it
> just loses power and then dies.  Sometimes it loses power and if I give it
> more gas, it bucks and coughs (choose your metaphor) - then sometimes it
> dies, and other times it feels like something catches in the cough and it
> starts going normally again.  Feels very weird.
>
> This seems to happen more predictably when I'm going up a hill, or have to
> shift in urban driving.  I find myself giving it more gas than I usually
> would, and sometimes revving it too high without shifting, in order to
> prevent it from dying.  I'm afraid to go up really steep hills (MANY of them
> in St. John's) because I'm sure it will die, and I'll not be able to start
> it up again, and then I'll be in a mess, having to back down the hill
> coasting or something.  (This happened once.  Not good.)
>
> When it dies, I put flashers on, stop, turn the engine off, turn it back on,
> and almost always it starts up and behaves properly.  Canadians are
> extremely polite, but I imagine the people behind me do NOT appreciate
> this.
>
> One time it did this at high speed, on the Trans-Canada.  Not good.  It
> wouldn't start up again - well, it did, but then died promptly again.  I
> pulled over, called a tow truck, waited around ten minutes.  Then started it
> and it worked fine.  I ended up canceling the tow truck, and didn't have any
> more problems for the next 400 or so miles till I got home.
>
> I've taken it to two mechanics.  Before heading back to Newfoundland in
> February, I took it to my mechanic in NJ.  He said "sounds like an
> electrical problem."  He searched all over, and drove it around, but it
> didn't act up when he was driving it, and he said he couldn't figure out the
> problem unless he saw it happen.  Incidentally, this same mechanic replaced
> my alternator in October, and I drove a fair bit (up to Westies at Watkins
> and back, maybe 600 miles) after that with no problems at all.  So
> presumably it's not the alternator.
>
> So reluctantly I headed back to Newfoundland (long drive, cold weather, not
> nice to take risks with uppity van when Propex heater still doesn't work
> despite Karl M's repairing it last fall).  I got as far as those 400 miles
> from St. John's, that's when it died on the Trans-Canada.  After it started
> up again, I drove into Corner Brook, which wasn't far, and took it to a
> mechanic who someone had told me was the best one around for electrical
> work.  They said that it sounded electrical, but if they didn't see it
> happen, they couldn't fix it.  He said something electrical is getting hot
> and then cutting out.  When I stop it cools down, and then it works okay
> again.  If this were the case, though, why would I have been able to drive
> from New Jersey to Newfoundland, all highway driving, without it happening
> once?  And why does it more reliably happen when driving around town, often
> when I've just started and the engine is cold?
>
> So anyway, I came back to St. John's, got here fine.  Now I only drive to do
> errands around town that I can't do on foot.  Pretty much every time I
> drive, it cuts out at least once, then starts up again and seems okay.  It
> seems to happen often when going slowly - pulling out of a parking space,
> starting up at a traffic light, parallel parking.
>
> My neighbor (not a car mechanic) said he thinks it's a clutch problem,
> because I told him it happens more when I have to shift.
>
> What do you all think?  BTW, Matilda (my van) is an '89 with a manual
> transmission.
>
> I'm planning to take her to my mechanic here (who specializes in old VWs),
> but I'm almost waiting until I'm sure she'll act up when he drives it, since
> I suppose he'll also say that if he doesn't see it happen, he can't figure
> out what's wrong.  So I figured I'd ask for your opinions.
>
> What do you think?
>
>
>
>
>
> Joy