I have owned a 1985 Westy for 15 years and early on
it showed symptoms of vanagon syndrome. Symptoms ranged from the more
frequent mild to the less frequent more severe. When more severe simply
restarting it seemed to solve the issue. As these symptoms were infrequent
I simply never got around to solving the issue. The symptoms would range
from a simple miss or hiccup to lose of power and bucking. It has been very
manageable for about 200,000 miles. Coming home from desert last year I
noticed frequent "missing" for want of a better term. I seemed to notice
less power but was able to maintain speed but seemed to be more laboured.
On one occasion when holding speed at 60 miles per hour speed simply
dropped to 50. I dropped into third and it seemed to respond normally. I
recently purchased a rebuilt air flow meter and had that put in and took my
first trip this past week. I put about 500 miles on it and it preformed
like a champ until it didn't. I felt a couple of misses and then real and
sudden loss of power coupled with sputtering. I was on a two lane highway
with no shoulder and it was very dangerous! I think I flooded it trying to
keep it going. At any rate got it started and it performed great all the
way. This is now clearly a danger and I don't wish to drive it like this.
This incident was worse than previous incident with old AFM. The shops I
have available to me do not seem to have any interest in a intermittent
problem. They say it has to be exhibiting the problem when I bring it to
them. I am perplexed. This is now a significant safety issue. Any help and
suggestions appreciated. Thank you.

Bernie