From an engineering point of view a naturally aspirated engine loses 3% for
each 1,000 ft. elevation. The O2 sensor should have no problem compensating
for 5,000 ft. to keep the mixture close. Where you able to get over 50 if
you down-shifted? Manual or automatic? If automatic is the kick down working
properly. Inability to take hills in an automatic can also be a sign of a
bad torque converter.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
KevinPGilleran
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2014 4:07 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 1991 westy - altitude sickness?

All,

On my last trip out to the Grand Canyon and then circling clockwise around
to Zion I found that my 1991 westy had problems with what I can only imagine
is the altitude (4970 ft at Kanab Utah). I could barely get the van up to 50
miles per hour the entire time we were at elevation. But once we dropped
back down into California and were back on highway 5 (400 feet or so) we
were back up 70 mph no problem.

Any ideas of where I should start on this issue would be much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kevin P. Gilleran