If you're getting good consistent spark from the coil lead then the hall
sensor is working. Pull the distributor cap and check the cap-rotor. Place a
spark plug in one of the wires to check for spark there.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Robert Fisher
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 12:04 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: "You got a bangin' van there, dude!" (loss of power/spark)

...said the high-school kid to me as I was pushing the damn thing down the
shoulder of the road. I told him I'd like it a lot better if it would stay
running longer. Truth be told it has gone a long long time between
breakdowns since I got it back on the road a few years ago and it's
basically run like a top, so this is just old car syndrome. What makes it
frustrating is that several things have happened in the last six months or
so.
This time it started to feel like there was something dragging on it, or
like we were driving into a high wind, then it started running rough and
losing power. It actually felt just like it did when the Temp II sensor went
out a couple of years ago, the difference being that I could always get it
to start again when it was cold. The last time it started it needed a lot of
coaxing to start and then it just stopped altogether about five minutes
later. Now it won't start at all.
Of course it only breaks down when my wife is driving it, so I have to piece
things together from her descriptions. : /

It has a good strong spark from the coil lead, but no spark from the plug
wires. I found a couple of descriptions from Mark Drillock and Scott in "the
archives" (my gmail account) of how to check the Hall Sensor, which I will
do tomorrow. I finally found my spare dizzy but I don't really know how good
it is; I just know that it was running when the engine it was on failed from
something else.

Anybody have any suggestions for what else might be the problem?

--
Cya,
Robert

'87 & '86 Auto GLs