Date:         Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:04:11 -0800
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <garciasghostvw@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      "You got a bangin' van there, dude!" (loss of power/spark)
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...said the high-school kid to me as I was pushing the damn thing down the
shoulder of the road. I told him I'd like it a lot better if it would stay
running longer. Truth be told it has gone a long long time between
breakdowns since I got it back on the road a few years ago and it's
basically run like a top, so this is just old car syndrome. What makes it
frustrating is that several things have happened in the last six months or
so.
This time it started to feel like there was something dragging on it, or
like we were driving into a high wind, then it started running rough and
losing power. It actually felt just like it did when the Temp II sensor
went out a couple of years ago, the difference being that I could always
get it to start again when it was cold. The last time it started it needed
a lot of coaxing to start and then it just stopped altogether about five
minutes later. Now it won't start at all.
Of course it only breaks down when my wife is driving it, so I have to
piece things together from her descriptions. : /

It has a good strong spark from the coil lead, but no spark from the plug
wires. I found a couple of descriptions from Mark Drillock and Scott in
"the archives" (my gmail account) of how to check the Hall Sensor, which I
will do tomorrow. I finally found my spare dizzy but I don't really know
how good it is; I just know that it was running when the engine it was on
failed from something else.

Anybody have any suggestions for what else might be the problem?

--
Cya,
Robert

'87 & '86 Auto GLs