ok, let's try again ... this time maybe we can hit the RIGHT keys! :)

On Tue, 12 Apr 94 09:04:25 CDT Richard Eager said:
>Jim & Dean, I'm also very interrested in everyone's responses as I have a 1987
>that exhibits a similar behavior (I think).  That is, when idling, the
>RPMs will increase to about 2000 momentarily and then return to proper
>idle speed.  Really weird the first time this happened while driving ...
>I also have another problem that may or may not be related.  When I
>first start the car in the morning, the idle is very rough and slow
>(about 500 or so).  Sometimes the engine will stall, so I press the
>accelerator slightly to keep the speed up. After a minute or two of
>running, it's OK.  If it stalls though, it is very hard to restart and
>sometimes there is the faint smell of gas.  Is it possible for it to be
>choked too much ??!!

that's just about exactly what my 1988 kept doing. when i replaced (after much
suffering at the hands of several dealers) the temp coolant sensor (about $30)
the problem went away.  then, about a year later, it did it again. replaced
the sensor again, and the problem went away again. hasn't come back (yet),
but i have a spare sensor now!

>Yea, BIG bucks here.  Doesn't the dealer have the diagnostic equipment to
>determine if the ECU is bad or not?

nope. dealers do NOT seem to have anybody or anything to work on vanagons
with the water-cooled engines. either they don't feel they can make enough
money off us to pay for the equipment, or they don't want to bother training
anybody these days.  so it's basically swapping parts and hoping.  so far,
that's got me by. :(

joel