I've had this happen twice.  First time was on my '68.  I was on a busy
arterial and the van started accelerating (nothing to dramatic in a '68!) so
I braked and put the clutch in and the engine revved up to full throttle,
but I had the presence of mind to turn off the key and roll to the curb.

On my '84 the ECU cut the fuel and I then switched it off when it began to
stumble.

Sounds like one of those things you have to throw parts at.  Gotta fix it!

Stuart

From: John Meeks [mailto:vanagon@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2013 7:10 PM
To: Stuart MacMillan
Cc: Vanagon List
Subject: Re: Runaway Engine RPMs

Right Stuart...

I've checked that nothing in that linkage is jammed or stuck. AND it stopped
happening after a cooldown.and restart but not after a momentary shutdown.

I have the Digifant Pro Training manual on my phone. That's logic. I like
Scotts' idle control unit idea . Pro Training has s page on that.

3000 RPM with no load for more than a few seconds IS pretty disconcerting.

John

'

On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 9:35 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:

Definitely follow logical troubleshooting procedure, which means check the
simple stuff first.  That's always the mechanical things you can see and
feel.  Electrons are only detected by magic.

I've had this happen and it was something that dropped on the throttle lever
and jammed it.  Broken cruise control cable I think. The good thing is the
ECU will cut off the injectors before the engine self-destructs!

At least that's what happened in my case, but at the time I thought I
destroyed it.

Stuart