Date:         Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:12:41 -0500
Reply-To:     Neal Barrentine <vwneal@BLUEMARBLE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Neal Barrentine <vwneal@BLUEMARBLE.NET>
Subject:      '86 GL stutters, stumbles and dies intermittantly
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

        Okay listmembers, where do I look next. Lately I can't make it a mile
away without the 2.1L acting like it's starving for fuel, missing
terribly, or just running like s**t. The rest of the time it runs great
with plenty of power, and then it won't even run at all except at an
idle. Sometimes while sitting at an idle it will just act like it lost
a cylinder and run all uneven, then back to running smoothly. Today I
thought I had fixed it, only to have it lose power and die just as I
was braking for traffic and down-shifting. I managed to get off the
road and opened the hatch to disconnect the O2 sensor to see if it
would make a difference. Tried to start it again but it just cranked
over and over. I decided to wait a minute (read about ten seconds) and
it started right up and ran great for about another minute before
starting to buck and miss and act like it was starving for fuel. I made
it to the gas station, filled the tank and made it the 2-1/2 miles back
home without incidence.  I pulled over about half way and re-connected
the O2 sensor. It didn't seem to make any difference whether the O2
sensor was connected or not.
Here's what I've done to try to fix this:
-New gas tank
-New gas tank seal kit
-New fuel line
-New fuel filter
-Tested fuel pump pressure and fuel pressure regulator - held at around
26 pounds for ten minutes
-checked plug wires, replaced one bad one with a spare
-checked cap and rotor
-checked throttle position switch
-checked idle stabilizer - it vibrates on idle
-cleaned and adjusted the wiper arm in the AFM, tested air temp sensor,
installed capacitor between terminals 2 and 4
-cleaned ground connections
        Any suggestions as to where I look next? I'm supposed to go camping in
two weeks and have been fiddling with this problem for two months now.
I want my Vanagon running again! I miss it! Sigh....
Neal Barrentine
Bloomington, Indiana
1986 GL
1960 Baja Bug