Date:         Wed, 16 Jan 2002 11:15:30 -0700
Reply-To:     Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
Subject:      Need ideas - diagnosing troubles.
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Help, I need some ideas.  My 84 van is *still* acting up.  I've posted
several times and have replaced many parts, but I've still got problems.
What happens is that the van will drop to low rpms (about 500-800 maybe)
and will not respond to the throttle.  It might stay like this for 5
minutes, and then, for no reason I know of, it starts up and runs fine
again.

I by-passes the idle stabilizer the other day, and this hasn't happened
since then and I hoped I had it solved.  But today, driving around 65mph,
the van started "shuddering," meaning it would kind of die, but only
momentarily and then it would run again.  So, I was "stumbling" along at
65mph.  I couldn't get it to do it at lower speeds, but I don't really
think it is a speed issue.

I have checked the fuel pressure during the problem - and I think its
normal (33-38 psi - is this normal?)  So, this tells me that my fuel pump
must be working fine and my fuel pump relay as well.

I've replaced many parts and don't really know what to do.  *IF* this were
your van, where would you start hooking up meters and waiting for a
problem (for example, I checked the fuel pressure already).  What else
should I check?

Thanks a ton for any help or ideas!
Blake
SLC UT