this e-mail is about my exiting trip to the library, and a question of
what is wrong with my van.

this morning, i started up my '84 vanagon to pick my sister up from the
library.  the van started up fine, but then settled into a rough idle.
when i stopped at the bottom of our street, the van died.  it started
back up with some difficulty, but i was back on my way up the hill to the
library, within 3 minutes.
i was stopped to turn left into the library, when the van died again,
this time into oncoming traffic.  in a desperate attempt to get myself
and my vehicle from becoming tomorrow's news, i put it into first and
drove into the library parking lot on starter alone.  as soon as i got
into the parking lot, the van choked/sputtered to life.  i got my sister
from inside, and tried to start the van but it didn't want to go.  in a
last ditch attempt to start it by cranking the hell out of it while using
the starter motor to go, i almost caused two accidents.  i didn't want to
have the engine off when i went down the street, so i went in the
opposite direction hoping that i wouldn't die in the process.  after
about fifteen minutes of solid cranking(i probably burnt out every major
electrical component in the van), the van came back from the dead with a
great belch of unburnt gasoline and motor oil.  i turned around and
limped back home, and when i stopped to turn the car off when i was
parked, the van turned itself off.

the first person that knows what is wrong with my vanagon, and lives
within one hour of Catonsville, Maryland, will be one the first person
outside my immediate family to get a ride in my chevy 2.8l v-6 powered
vanagon(the project will be done by christmas -- i hope).

sudhir desai
17 overhill road
catonsville, maryland 21228

1984 Red&White Volkswagen Vanagon