Larry,

I assume that "cleaning up" your bus implies that it has sat around
for awhile.  I had a similar situation when I bought mine, which had
horrendous mileage when I got it.

While the other replies gave some great suggestions, like Mr.
Wilford's, for example, one thing needs to be taken into consideration
before you lunge headfirst into the engine bay: the engine may simply
need to be re-broken in. Remember that your engine is not new, and it
will take a little more TLC to break your engine back in. I'd change
the oil every 1,000 miles maybe three or four times, and nurse the
motor along (sort of hard to do in a ssssssllllllllooooooowwwwwww van,
admittedly) and don't try going any faster than maybe 60 mph. My '84
with 135K still runs fine after all this, with no oil loss, smoke,
whatever.

Also, as the other replies have said, don't overlook the dumb s#!+
like tire pressure, timing, idle speed, fuel mixture, etc.

Best of luck!

Sam
"just as original as the original=just as many ideas bogarted from VW
as the first time"

---The Martins <nitram@TBCNET.COM> wrote:
>
> Just bought a 85 Vanagon.  Seem to get real bad mileage. (75mile per
1/2
> tank)  I'm currently cleaning it up real good also putting in new
plugs,
> cap ,etc.  etc.  Anything  special to fix for such terrible mileage
?  In
> that 75 miles it did buck and hesitate, etc. after 15 minutes at
55mph.
> Turning it off and restarting didn't majically fix it, it worked
itself out
> in a short time.  Only drove it a few miles since then, as it's real
dirty
> inside and I have to take care of that, but it hasn't happened since.
> Although I have not cruised for 15 min. since either.  Do I read too
much
> into things and need to wait it out, or is this a common problem
that I can
> be perpared to rectify ?
>
> Thanks,  Merry Christmas
>
> Larry
>

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