Date:         Sun, 18 Apr 2004 18:25:59 -0600
Reply-To:     tmrmb@PCFASTNET.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Butlers <tmrmb@PCFASTNET.COM>
Subject:      power loss
Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1

Good day!  We have searched the archives and feel we are still up in the
air as the next path to go down.   Ours is a 1990 Syncro Westy.

Last weekend while traveling from Park City UT to Boise ID we experienced
a major loss of power.  The van felt like it went from 4 cylinders to
three to two to one, black smoke billowing out and sputtering away.
note:we replaced the fuel filter and air filter the week prior. The van
was running very rich and we were guessing perhaps the coolant sensor was
failing.  It isn't the typical vanagon syndrome as previously experienced
on a prior van.  There was no bucking etc...we had the van flat bed towed
into boise where it sat overnight.  the next day we proceeded to drive all
day sight seeing with no apparent problem.

The next day we proceeded home and made it about 10 miles west of Twin
Falls when the same syndrome occured.  We were able to coast down the
hills with the ignition turned off and gain a few minutes in drive time.
The VW service guys went for the temp sending unit and didn't have the
part - as we were just trying to get it back home they jumped out the unit
and it all seemed to be fine.  We made it to Brigham City, UT and it
started happening again.  We took out the jumper and tried it with and
without the sensor in.  We basically limped it the rest of the way home.

We replaced the the water temperature sensor (think usually referred to as
II) the next day.  Thinking all is well in the universe and our problems
were behind us we took off this weekend for southern ut.  same thing
happened an hour plus into our drive.  we took it to a local repair shop
and we replaced the ignition switch as it showed signs of being worn out.
we started on our way again and made it another bit down the road and it
happened again.  According to them they checked o2 sensor, cap, rotor,
coil, and as previously mentioned we had just done the fuel filter.  they
cleaned the connections between the air mass meter and the ecu - cleaned
greased and put back together. drove about 60 miles and there we were
again :(

our thoughts are - it seems to come down to the O2 sensor the air mass
meter or the ecu.  as none of these parts are cheap it's a big decision as
where to go next....hence, the plead for opinions.

It seems tough to want to go to get another diagnosis when twice it hasn't
been found.  We could just choose one of these and do the install on our
own and save the extra labor expense.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as it's camping time here in the
west and we are getting a bit stressed out :).

The Butlers