O2 sensor, Temp 2 sensor, airflow meter or major vacuum leak. The archives
have a lot of good information.
During the power loss try resting the ignition, (quickly turning key off and
then back on). If power resumes for a short period you have an O2 sensor or
wiring issue.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Liberte, Joel
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 11:19 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 90 Syncro engine power probs

Greetings, and sure wish I was drifting on the outskirts of the pdl for a
while before I had problems.

Newbie to the group and the VW world, just picked up my '90 Syncro with
original 2.1 and am having problems, just before I drive 1500 miles home.

Started when driving just outside of Denver in the mountains, in 4th gear
there was basically no power to the engine at all, rpm at idle no matter
where the gas.  Dropped to 3rd and was able to keep up the speed with a bit
of higher rpm.  (yes, am aware of the hills and the lack of hp so fully
expected it to be a wee bit slower).  I needed to down shift again due to
the grade and after a couple minutes, the power in 2nd dropped to almost
zero, same in 1st as well at this point.  I was off to the side barely
moving, this went on for about 5 miles when it went back to a normal rpm and
picked up speed.

Did it again today in all the gears, no more than idle rpm no matter where
the gas pedal.  Did check the linkage between the peddle and the engine and
no problems there.

1500 miles at about 2 miles per hour, should be home by summer 2023.

Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.  Happy to have joined but sure would
have liked it in a different fashion.

Joel L