Date:         Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:57:44 -0500
Reply-To:     Rob Campbell <rob@PHEMP.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rob Campbell <rob@PHEMP.COM>
Subject:      losing power and some thin smoke
In-Reply-To:  <20041024173810.0D6FF6FE99@vux.fdntech.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Hello-

I'm out in middle of nowhere texas on the return leg of a x-country drive.

the engine has been running perfectly until yesterday.  the day started
with me noticing it seeming "heavy", not accelerating as well as it
should.  I accounted for this by remembering that I had been driving a
friends non-westy van around for the previous days and maybe i had gotten
used to the lighter van.

I stopped to get propane, and as I was pulling up to the hose, the van
stalled.  this seemed strange, but I figured it was my fault.  Later down
the road, as I stopped for lunch, it stalled repeatedly, it was idling at
like 300 rpm instead of the usual 900.  If I kept a hint of gas going, it
would be fine.  I thought this might be the idle control unit, which I
have had trouble with (it was running way too high in that case).

After a couple hours driving, I started to really think something was not
right.  The van would not go more than 50 in 4th gear (3200 rpm or so)
despite more gas left on the pedal.  On a similar road, I would expect my
van to be able to do 65 or 70 at 3800 rpm.

I stopped and opened the back hatch, and thin, whispy white smoke was
coming from what seemed to be the rear of the engine (near the power
steering pump).  This is where the smoke was exiting, I could not pinpoint
its source.  The smoke smelled like burning plastic, my first thought was
that wire insulation or other plastic material had come loose and was
touching sometrhing hot it shouldnt.

The engine still starts fine, temp is great, it has correct levels of oil
and coolant.

I'm worried that this is a pretty fundamental engine problem, one of the
pistons not working or a leak.  I am a mechanical novice, so dont know
much about how to diagnose this myself.  I am having a general mechanic
look at it today (in Alpine TX), but I dont have great hopes.  My
questions are...

what might this be?

how critical is it to take care of right away?

if it is critical, can anyone suggest a mechanic near the TX/NM border
area?  it would be 9 hours back to austin, where Underground VW is.

If you have any thoughts on this, please respond to rob@phemp.com since i
am only reading in digest mode and dont have good net access here.

oh yes, it is an 87 westy camper

thanks

rob
dokodemo.org