Fuel delivery-pressure can be easily tested with a pressure gauge. Check the
pressure under load. Did the coolant tank pop during or after that uphill
pull? Any signs of coolant going where it shouldn't be? Loose or cracked
heads. Yes loose heads can be lifted under load causing power loss and
pressurization of the cooling system.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2012 1:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: More 2.1 poor running

I've written a few times over the last week about my poor running 2.1.

First, it would stumble and die after starting. Replaced temp 2, replaced
AFM. Much better. Ran deceivingly well for miles, but when asked to pull a
hill, I had to back off on the throttle and crawl up.
Any demand for fuel resulted in a loss of power that could only be recovered
from by lowering the demand by backing off on the pedal.

Sounds like fuel to me.

Today I installed a new gas filter. I examined what came out of the old one,
it looked to be half gas and half water. It doesn't run like there is a
bunch of water in the fuel; it runs like it isn't getting enough fuel for
the demands of acceleration and hills.

Which sounds like a fuel pump. It's pretty loud, and maybe it can only keep
up with low fuel demand.

It has also popped its third coolant tank in two years, but that's another
matter.

Other than the pump, anything else I should look at?

Thanks,

Jim