Date:         Thu, 5 Jan 95 13:47:54 PST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Johnson <sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com>
Subject:      Another Vanagon Stall?

So puusital@mv.us.adobe.com says:
> Lucky me, I may have experienced this problem yesterday in my '87, or it 
> may just have been water in my gas (what it felt like to me), or - of 
> course - it may have been something else entirely.
> 
> For those of you who have dealt with this, does the car ALWAYS stall? 
> What I experienced was not a complete stall, but an intermittent misfire 
> on two occasions after episodes of extended (1hr plus) driving. Also, 
> the problem seemed to correct itself without me having to shut the bus 
> down. Each "attack" lasted about 5 minutes and then everything was fine.
> 

The symptoms you describe are exactly what happens when experiencing the
intermittent stalling.  Mine has corrected itself before without having
to shut down either.  This was on a trip back from San Diego a year or
so ago.  But on my trip this summer traveling between Reno and Winnemucca
on I80 the hesitation wouldn't go away, so we stopped for a bathroom break
and headed out with no further problems.  I'd say your hesitation problem
and mine are the same problem.

John Huguenard posted a bit about an article from Electronics Now (which I
haven't been able to get my hands on yet) where the writer Don Lancaster
discusses trouble-shooting F.I. systems.  Apparently, he tracked down the
possible real cause of the hesitancy which is a weak solder connection on
a big resistor.  Don't know the details yet, and would like some hard 
"hands-on" evidence that this fixes it.  I also kinda hate to dig into
the brain box for fear of damaging something in the process.

Steven

sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com