Date:         Wed, 10 Jun 1998 09:20:15 -0700
Reply-To:     Nathaniel Merrill <nmerrill@PARAMETRIX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Nathaniel Merrill <nmerrill@PARAMETRIX.COM>
Subject:      Vanagon trouble shooting (cranky after sitting)
Comments: To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hello all,
I have been experiencing some problems with my westy which I hope someone may have some insight on.
The problem:
It seems to happen if I let the bus sit for 1 week (even weekend to weekend) or more.
It starts fine, idles fine for a few min while I warm up. 
Then It may start to stumble (see below for what happens next) ; Or If I begin to drive before the idle stumbles I may pull out of the drive way and get a few hundred yards down the road and then it dies.  Specifically, It will not accelerate (I have to stop) When I let off the gas It will drop to a rough idle (stumble, slight drop in rpm) and will not take any throttle.  throttle results in the idle getting worse (continued throttle either has little effect (slow sputtering drop in rpm) or slowly kills it maybe with a few muted back fires)  Otherwise it may idle roughly for as long as I wait or sometimes eventually sputter to the point where it dies.
Additionally, If I shut the key off and immediately restart, I can drive normally for another 100yds and then it starts all over again.  I can shut it of and restart to perfect running multiple times.  Eventually one time I will restart and drive off and all will be fine.  Not another problem all day even if I park it for overnight and drive it again the next day.  It seems to only happen with extended stops (the shortest I have observed was two days)  The first time this happened It was fine after two shut downs the last two times required a lot of coaxing like it is getting worse.  
Well, I hope someone has an idea!
Thanks in advance for your brain time.
Nathaniel 
91 syncro westy (with new forest green Barnstormer westfalia stickers) 
Sunny Seattle