My skeptical wife and exuberant I just purchased an '85 Westy. On our maiden
voyage to Door County, WI from Indianapolis, IN we couldn't get her started
at a rest stop 'bout 15 miles south of US 30. Gave AAA a call and had her
towed to Merrillville VW, Audi & Suzuki where we were greated ("Top 'o' the
morning to ya.") by a very helpful Service Director, Harold Empey (raised
his family in a '73 Bus with three engine replacements). We left the Westy
in his care and rented a car for the remainder of our trip north.  He
couldn't look at it 'til Monday and I thought I'd try to get some feedback
before then.

The problem:
The Westy starts fine 90% of the time -- I've only owned it a week. It cold
starts 100% of the time. Twice now though it has refused to start. The first
time I just let it sit in the driveway for a couple hours and it started
fine when I pumped the gas pedal. I didn't have that option this time and
had it towed.

It turns over strong and I can smell raw gas so it doesn't *seem* like a
fuel line problem, it just refuses to catch and start. The PO claims to have
never had this problem which is possible if he didn't drive it often.  Also,
on a warm start I usually need to pump the gas pedal to get it to catch.
The mechanic who checked it out before I bought it didn't catch the problem
either -- in fact, he couldn't believe the excellent condition the engine
was in. Is this a quirk or a solvable problem? Is this enough information to
even judge?

TIA,
Chris Rowland
'85 Westy 4spd - Hundehutte (tr. doghouse)