On Wed, 6 Sep 1995, Joel Walker wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Sep 95 20:59:13 CDT you said:
> >My initial thoughts were: timing-maybe the distributor collar loosened up
[stuff deleted]
> >contact, but I've never traced it to a specific wire.
> 
> it could be the ignition coil "hiccupping" ... sitting atop #4 cylinder
> like that, the coil gets pretty hot. my 80 bus had the coil fail on me out
> in the boondocks. :( but it just flat died suddenly. i did have a set of
> points go "bad" and give me the same sort of symptoms you describe ... about
> 1/8th inch had broken off of the little cam-follower and the timing just
> went to hell really quickly. replaced the points and everything was fine

good lead, i'll open up the distribtor and check the guts out.  is there 
a way to test the coil?

> i'd suggest (1) replace the rotor and distributor cap.
>             (2) replace the points.
>             (3) get a spare coil and put it on the engine. save the old
>                 one somewhere.
> then check the rotor every 5,000 miles or so to see how it is holding up.
> good luck.
> joel

So, timing is manually adjusted by rotatin gthe distributor body?  Thanks 
for the suggestions!

Kevin Prichard
1981 Vanagon L
Manhattan, NYC
kpx@panix.com