I happened to be checking connections in the electrical junction box.   It
is in upper left corner of engine compartment in vicinity of that wonderful
slave cylinder.  By the way I cheated and drilled a hole in floor right
above that slave so to drop a bleeder hose straight down.  No more
contorting fingers.  Sorry purists.

Anyway I was in that junction box and saw a connection with a fuse.  Fuse
was blown.   Hmmmm I wondered....is that the cause of one of my minor cost
of living issues with the ole RexMobile?   At first it looked like it went
to the upper thermostat housing?   But that was an illusion.  I trailed it
to the Air Flow unit and that connection that plugs into the top of that
system.  I am away from vehicle right now so my memory is not perfect.
 Anyway I replaced the 5 amp fuse and presto.  Not much changed.  It
started up like normal.   It does seem to be running a little better....but
it was running fine before.  When I got it running that is.   If you know
what I mean.

So the long and short is..... what is that fuse for?   What happens when it
is blown?   I know it still runs.  Could others have missed this in some
diagnosis or another.   It is out of the way if you didn't know what you
were looking for.

I will report further if I notice continued performance improvement.

--
Kurt Grotz
484-477-2109
kurtgrotz@gmail.com
86 Vanagon GL
87 Westy
98 Honda CRV