Nice detective work as opposed to the parts swapping method.   Bad wiring
and
vacuum leaks are where most of the culprits to intermittent/no-go problems
in
most vehicles these days....

Steven
91 Westy

On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 1:50 PM, Gregory Smith <gfs@gregoryfsmith.com>wrote:

> Glad to report I think I found the problem.  I peeled back some suspicious
> looking electrical tape near the distributor harness to find breaks in the
> factory insulation and in fact, nearly broken wire that became broken wire
> upon withdrawing the harness from under the intake runners:
>
>
> http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g243/budgetzagato/IMG_2208_zps78ba5450.jpg
>
> I had a VW harness from another vehicle in my stash and spliced on the
> good distributor plug from it, as well as replaced the ground wire which
> was nearly as bad.
>
>
> http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g243/budgetzagato/IMG_2211_zpsbc449326.jpg
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded with suggestions.
>
> Gregory Smith
> '88 Vanagon GL
> '77 Lancia Scorpion
> Olympia, WA USA
>