Item Subject: 87 Syncro Westy poltergeist
     Bob,
     
       This sounds a lot like Vanagon Syndrome (yes--so many Vanagons have 
     this problem that there is a special name for it).  I have not had 
     personal experience with this so take anything I have to say about it 
     with a grain of salt.  There was some discussion of this about a month 
     ago because another list member had this problem.  There is a 
     technical bulletin the describes the fix.  Essentially you install a 
     wiring harness that VW has since developed to fix the problem.  I 
     think it goes on the Air Flow Sensor.  Other list members should be 
     able to tell better if your exact symptoms are the same.  If you need 
     any more detail search under the name Vanagon Syndrome in the 
     archives.
     
     Regards,
     
     Vince
     '85 Westy GL

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Subject: 87 Syncro Westy poltergeist
Author:  Non-HP-vanagon (vanagon@lenti.med.umn.edu) at HP-Corvallis,shargw1
Date:    12/13/96 5:06 PM

After a tearful farewell to my excellent '78 camper as it left for = 
Chicago with my college bound son, I thought I'd been truly blessed when = 
I chanced upon a cherry  '87 Syncro Westy (90K).  I picked it up for the = 
50 mile trip home and I made it 3 miles down the interstate before it = 
started to miss, load up, and finally died.  I restarted, turned around = 
at the next interchange, and had to stop and restart 3 more times to get = 
back to the dealership.  The service manager couldn't reproduce the = 
problem during a test drive, so we put some Heet in the tank thinking it = 
might have been moisture, and I departed again.  The trip home was = 
uneventful.  I parked the unit, spent several days fixing a few minor = 
things and loaded up my family for our maiden voyage.  The "missing" = 
symptoms returned within a few blocks, forcing me to the side of the = 
road.  I restarted, the engine ran smoothly, drove a few more blocks, = 
and again slowly choked to a stop.  I finally realized that restarting = 
temporarily made the symptoms go away and would even work "on the fly".
     
To summarize, during the 2 months since I bought the van, the dealer has = 
replaced:
                                O2 sensor
                                Water temp sensor
                                Fuel pump
                                Fuel filter
                                Air flow sensor
                                ECU
                                Some sort of idle relay
     
After each of these disturbances, it runs okay for as much as 50 miles = 
or as little 5 miles, but when the symptoms return, they then recur = 
every 30 seconds, requiring a quick "switch off, switch on" (rebooting = 
the ECU) to keep running.  (Since the dealership is 50 miles away, it = 
only takes about 100 reboots to make the trip.)  I have perused the mail = 
archives and now realize that similar symptoms are common.  This came as = 
surprise after the years of flawless performance from my '78.  I'm sure = 
that the van didn't leave the factory running like this, so it must be = 
fixable, but from the past discussions, it seems that there are no sure = 
fixes.  The scenario seems to be, "Well I replaced a zillion things and = 
it cost me lots of money and now it only does it three times a summer = 
and every weekend in the winter and I'm not sure which part made it = 
better."  Does anyone have any suggestions based on the things we've = 
tried and the 30 second interval between occurrences?  Even though the = 
dealer is continuing to experiment, I'm just about ready to give up. 
Thanks,
        Bob