Date:         Sun, 22 Jan 1995 14:34:11 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         DerekDrew@aol.com
Subject:      Shuddering Returns--Gas

I let my van sit for two months with a half filled tank of gas. 

Then I put some fuel inector cleaner in the gas and filled the tank the rest
of the way up with High Test. 

The shuddering/dying symptom came back during a drive from NYC to Boston last
week and I almost died. I found that when I pumped the gas pedal I could resto
re the van to correct operation but if I let the pedal sit whereever it was
set the van would slowly loose power and die. It also would not idle. 

I could hardly speak and I was composing the message I would write to the
list asking for help in my head. I had something in mind about how rational
you can be when reading an e-mail reader in the comfort of your home/office
and how your mind goes south when confronted with a real problem. 

I already have the auxiliary wiring harness installed so I knew that wasn't
the problem. But the symptoms were almost identical to the shuddering
problem. Hummm, I thought, where *was* that resistor Don talks about.

Then I remembered that guy (I can't recall right now) who told us two months
ago about how rough his van was running and how he drained the old gas out
and felt it was bad gas or water in the gas or something like that. I
speculated on how much water would condense in to my half full gas tank
during a moist fall during which the temperature variations was like a yo yo.


So, upon getting new gas up in Boston, presto, the problem went away.
Soooo.... the moral of the story is (pick one):

1) fuel injector cleaner can make your van run funny

2) high test gas can make your van run funny (sitting in an underused pump
too long?) 

3) significant water can accumulate in a half-full gas tank in a Vanagon over
a moist two month period, even if the walls of the gas tank are not metal but
made out of hard plastic.

Derek Drew

Anyway, when I got a