>Occasionally, specifically when he is running at higher rpms, the engine
>seems to surge or kick out. The engine doesn't actually stop as he
>normally puts the van in neutral and the engines purrs along. He says
>it is as if someone had applied the brakes as he was accelerating. 

>
>This problems usually occurs at highway speeds or when he is accelerating 

>quickly in first gear. Any ideas or comments. 

If this were a carburetted engine, I'd first guess a clogged fuel filter
or weak fuel pump. Since it's fuel-injected, these still might be culprits,
but there could be a lot else that I'm not familiar with.

Fuel filter is usually pretty cheap and easy to replace-- try it, you may
get lucky. Fuel pump is tougher to check-- you have to insert a gauge
into the line downstream from the fuel pump, and measure the fuel pressure
under various conditions of RPM, manifold pressure, etc. If it were my bus,
I'd have it done at a knowledgeable VW shop, or even a dealer ($$!), since
I know so little about fuel injection.

Good luck!
 ______________________________________________________________________
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    ______//________    Steve Maher    smaher@gi.com   //__][__||____\\
   /o _   |  -| _   \   San Diego, CA     75461,1717  (o _-|       _ o|
   `-(_)=======(_)---'                                 '(_)-------(_)-'
 '66 Mustang Coupevertible      '89 Son Sherwin        '80 VW V6anagon

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  "There are plenty of jobs to be had-- I have three of them myself!"
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