Date:         Sun, 7 Jan 1996 04:09:53 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         JonahGold@aol.com
Subject:      HELP!-Stranded in Nashville

Whoa boy....where to begin.

Let me save the 5 page ongoing saga/story of my previous 3 weeks' road trip
from NYC via NC, AL to Dallas, TX (including a most pleasant visit with the
infamous possum chaser himself! in AL), and get right to the point:

Background: (for those who may remember a few months ago) I bought an '87
syncro westy up in nyc w/ 86K miles. It drove great, and not until I hit mid
93K Friday did I begin to notice anything serious. Started with an
acceleration problem. Could no longer hit 80mph on freeway, then 70, then 60,
over the course of a couple of hours/gas tank refills. Too noticeable to be
the windy weather.

Took it into a local repair shop in Jackson, TN. New fuel filter didn't do
it, but it appeared the 'honeycomb' inside the catalytic converter had been
all chewed up and was stuck/sucked into the rear end of it. Midas muffler
down road replaced it, and said the O2 sensor was slightly damaged and needed
replacing 'as soon as reasonably able'. Upon leaving to try and make it to
Nashville for the night, the engine was getting worse. Backfires, less
acceleration up hills, now peaking at 40-50mph. Over next 2-3 hours and 100
miles, worse and worse. At times doing 15-20 on shoulder of freeway with
hazards on trying to get to Nashville. A few lucky strokes of straight
shooting back up at 75mph, but upon stopping for fuel, forget it. Continual
restarting from 0 to get all the way to town (lord knows how) in weirdest of
ways I've ever driven any vehicle.

Next day (saturday, with limited shop availability), finally found a
diagnostic shop who said it's a malfunctioning MASS AIRFLOW SENSOR. Was told
it's an expensive part, maybe $200-400 used/new? Have to wait till Mon. am to
find the part locally.

So, stranded in a hotel barely able to get the van to move more than a 1/2
block at a time in 1st gear, 2nd or 3rd if I'm really lucky, my emergency
questions are the following:

1. anyone know a trustworthy mechanic in downtown Nashville I should use, or
pick closest reputable import auto shop? (dealer is few miles from here --
too far for comfort).

2. Should i trust a used vs. new air sensor? How much should it cost? Labor?

3. Is it possible it's NOT the sensor causing such problems? (Guy in last
shop said when it's disconnected it should shut down engine, but in my case
it doesn't, ie = malfunction.)

any help greatly appreciated... (thank god for mobile computing!)
--Jonah
'87 syncro 'mesty'

(and here I was all prepared to go 'dashing through the snow', syncro style,
on way back to nyc this blizzarded weekend... :-(