Hmmm, I never saw the original of this post...

>>Any ideas what might prevent an '83 Vanagon (fuel injected, water cooled)
>>from wanting to restart after running for a short period of time??  It has
>>no problem starting on cold mornings, but after a quick ride, and 
>shut-down,
>>it won't start up again.  It cranks, but does not connect.  So far we know
>>that all four plugs are sparking, the fuel pump is pumping,  the fuel 
>filter
>>has been changed.  Occassionally it will struggle and kick in after a few
>>tries and lots of pressure on the gas pedal.  Usually, it just needs to sit
>>for e few hours and then it will go again.  Our local mechanics are 
>stumped.
>>Any ideas??

Do you have the Bentley for your van?  And is it a water-cooled
or air-cooled?  '83s apparently come in both flavors.

I have an '81 2.0L air cooled and have recently done some trouble-
shooting in the FI system, and perhaps I'm being naive but it
didn't seem too bad.  There are only about 3 pieces that I know
of that are specifically related to starting, not counting the
computer itself.  Two of those things are quite easy to get at
and test... well, now that I've taken the distributor out to
pull off the cold-start valve I consider that operation passe :)
There's another piece that's a bit harder to get to -- looks to me
like you have to pull the intake manifold stuff to get at it.
I'd recommend testing those bits first, as the Bentley gives very
clear instructions for each of them.  You only need a volt/ohm meter,
as I recall.

Steve's ideas are definitely worth checking out before diving
into the FI...

Good luck to you... if I can be any more help, my phone number is
801 487 8589 (typing is a bit painful...)
--
Gary Shea (shea@xmission.com)
http://www.xmission.com/~shea
SLC UT