gas spilling out from under the car: ayeah. definitely got one of them
hoses split. but it could also be the gasket around the fuel gauge sender
unit. maybe. unless you have some hamfisted idiot from the dealer working
on your bus, i'd bet on old age and the split little rubber hoses on the
vent tubes.

common? no really ... cept maybe on the older buses. the german rubber isn't
known for lasting too long. now that i've replaced all my fuel lines, i likely
need to replace those little hoses on my 88 as well.

what happen to me was that the idiot dealer didn't put the gasket back when
they put the sender back in the tank (remember that recall about the fuel
tank for vanagons?) ... so my first fillup dumped about five gallons all over
the pavement at the gas station. talk about pissed!!! they had it fixed
within 20 minutes after i got back to the dealer! yeah, well, i know it was
stupid to drive the thing in that condition, with gas spilling all over the
place, but i was really really really irate.

running out of gas: yup, that sounds just about like my 1980 bus when i ran
it out twice. just kinda rolls over and goes to sleep. i think it is the
fuel pressure that kinda dies slowly, like the pump is pushing a lot of air
or bubbles.

17.8 mpg for a first tank of mixed driving sounds not so bad to me ... what
was the weather like? if it was cold, the warmup cycle will be longer and
the mileage lower. my 88 bus gets an average of 19.4 for mixed driving, but
that's over 72,000 miles. most of the time in town i get about 16-18 mpg.
on the highway, with a little luck and a good tailwind, i can get over 20
pretty easy. actually got 23 once. :)

joel