Hi, Ben

I had a similar problem in my '77 bus.  I gave it a tune-up, drove
it around for a week, and then headed up to Canada from New Jersey.
I got about 4 hours into the trip, and the bus died.

After a couple of tows and failed attempts to reset the timing, I
determined that when I had adjusted the distributor to set the timing,
I had not tightened it *quite* enough to stay in and it wiggled up
a little on the drive in, which made the car untimeable.

Of course, I now don't know how tight is tight enough...  I have since
twisted off the adjuster bolt and had a new one put in.  The bus has
been running fine since then (September).

Good luck!
		Jay

Ben Heavner said:
> 
> I need help in Tacoma, WA with my '78 FI bus!  I'm supposed to take a 
> friend home to California, and another to Colorado at the end of the week 
> before returing myself home to Texas, but the bus is not healthy for some 
> mysterious reason, and I need help to get on the road by Friday afternoon..
> 
> Here's the story:
>   Last night, I tried to take my girlfriend out to dinner, and as I give 
> the van gas to back up, it dies.  I restart and try again, and every time 
> I give it gas, it dies. "Hmmm..."  Thinks I, just before borrowing a 
> friend's car for the date.
> 
>   Earlier in the day, I had reset the point gap.  Today, I again checked 
> the points (seem fine), then the valves (again, fine), then I replaced a 
> vaccum tube that I had duct-taped, then I put a new gasket on the 
> air-intake maifold for #3 and #4.  Now, it runs even wors, like it's not 
> firing on all four.  It also dies whenever I press on the gas.
> 
-- 
Jay Goldberg   IT5 UNIX Support  212.238.2678     \/     axion consulting svcs
Credit Suisse       Group        jay@ska.com     \/\/    jay@intac.com