Date:         Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:41:19 -1000
Reply-To:     Zach Hale <zach@ZACHHALE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Zach Hale <zach@ZACHHALE.COM>
Subject:      Infrequent symptom: inconsistent power after descending hill
In-Reply-To:  <CABw=Xe=H27m=xcvO4csJvUXvU0A+dA6qJadXN94BgnELOWVqsQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I have an 85 vanagon that I recently took on a ~6000 mile trip from Seattle
to LA to Texas and back to Seattle.

On the trip I noticed a couple times, once in Texas driving on rolling hills
going north from Austin and then once again after descending a large grade
heading into NE Oregon that I lost consistent power to my driving for a few
seconds a couple of times in Texas and for about 10-20 seconds in NE Oregon.
It wasn't exactly jerky as much as it was like power was fading in an out. I
don't recall any issues with the sound of my engine in that time and in both
instances I ended up putting on the brake and taking it easy for a quarter
mile then taking it easy as a precaution and it never re-occurred. Both
times I was letting the back-pressure on my engine help slow me down going
downhill as I always do.

It made me very nervous both times so I did everything I could to put less
strain on the vehicle and slow down while not giving much to the throttle. I
think this may have happened to me in the past before this trip, but it
happens so rarely that I may have forgotten.

Could this be a fuel pump issue? My pump is old and buzzes after long days
and in the heat. I was thinking it might just be something about losing
elevation and messing up the physics of fuel getting to my engine.

Are there any other concerns this might bring up?

The van drives great otherwise so nothing has been right in my face to want
to look into this. It's been in the back of my mind lately and I thought I'd
send a note out to see if anybody had any thoughts on this.

Thanks!
Zach