>Vanagons (wasserboxers) are notorious for their irregular idle. My '87 2.1l 
>certainly doesn't idle as smoothly as I'd like it to. I'm just curious how 
>lumpy the idle is on other similar Vanagons. With mine, the engine shakes 
>and often I can feel the shake in the driver's seat. The shifter vibrates 
>back and forth. The lumpiness is periodic--it runs smooth for several 
>seconds and then shakes a bit and then recovers and so on and so on. I've 
>wondered if my O2 sensor is responding too slowly.
>
>-Mark McCulley
>'87 syncro Westfalia

Hello Mark,
     My '86 has a "lumpy idle"  It does'nt seem as bad as yours.  You can't
feel it when inside the van.  If you listen to the exhaust, it sounds like
it has a very radical cam profile.  At times it smooths out then back to
loping.  I've checked the idle stabilizer and it seems to be working.  I
assumed that the idle was normal.
Colin A Moran

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance,
baffle them with bull sh*t.

 '86 Syncro GL