Thanks to the owners of the other synchro at Hoover Dam
who told me about this list while driving down the road last week.
I've learned more in the five hours since  logging on than in 12 years of
questioning 10 different dealers.

My engine is sometimes intermittant, usually at high
altitude, in  cold weather, on dry days after driving for about 30
minutes.  The wiring  harness fix, didn't.   I think it may still be ESD
related but this  group has pointed out a number of other possibilities.
A salesman in   Grand Junction told me it happened to him while ferrying
a new vanagon from  Denver.  Didn't seem to bother him enough to stop
selling  them. I lived in Germany for a year and it doesn't have low
relative humidity like the US, so Germans probably don't see ESD problems.

My engine has been through multiple versions of the head gasket game.
Misery loves company.

Thanks for your stories and advice.
Tom L. Neal  '87 Syncro with an original "D" sticker on the back window