Date:         Tue, 16 Dec 1997 14:23:16 -0900
Reply-To:     Steve Johnson <afslj1@UAA.ALASKA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.sdsc.edu>
From:         Steve Johnson <afslj1@UAA.ALASKA.EDU>
Organization: University of Alaska
Subject:      '87 Westy running rough
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Greetings, group!

I have an '87 Westy that is giving me fits.  Actually, it's *having*
fits, and therein lies the problem.

A few weeks ago, I filled it up at the local station, took off out of
the lot, got about a block, and it lost power.  Didn't die, but wouldn't
rev beyond a low (very rough) idle.  Let it sit about 5 min, started it,
ran fine for about 10 seconds, and then did the same thing.  Repeated
this performance about 10 times, but finally made it home.

Made an appointment with the trusty VW mechanic, but, as one would
expect, it ran perfectly on the way to the mech.  Obviously had nothing
for him to check out so I kept driving it.

Took it snowboarding the other day, and a new--albeit similar--problem
arose.  Now it runs great at lower RPM's, but when I step on it, it dies
out.  I let off the accellerator, and it catches and runs fine, and will
eventually reach cruising RPM's, but only if you baby it up there.  This
seems to happen only at about the top 1/5th of the accellerator's range,
so normal driving (except for those quartermile test runs I keep taking
it through :)) is not necessarily impared.

So wadda ya think, gang?  Electrical?  Fuel pump?  I know the PO had an
extra fuel pump on board when he drove it up to Alaska.  Any and all
advice is appreciated.  A carbon copy response to the list and to my
personal email address is appreciated as I get a digested version and
sometimes miss responses.

Thanks!!

Steve Johnson
Anchorage, AK

ps: it also gets *very* poor mileage; about 200 miles on a tank.  I
don't think this is normal, but don't know where to start to fix it.