Take a look underneath and see if the bottom of your engine is wet with oil, especially toward the rear in the direction of the tranny. If so, you may have a leaking rear shaft seal.

My machine has that problem and it has definitely got the "jitters" or clutch chatter. The seeping oil is not enought to even drip on the ground, but it's enough for the centrifugal force of the rotating parts to distribute on the clutch face and fly wheel. Enough to cause chatter on starting off. I've put off the repair required, and to avoid the chatter I have to let the clutch pedal out quite forcefully for a solid engagement to avoid the chatter.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

George Averill wrote:

When I start accelerating from a dead stop (1st gear) the Vanagon gets the jitters. Sounds like a warped flywheel to me; but just wondering if it could be oil leaking on the clutch. I don't have the problem in any other gear. The problem seems to be worse when I am accelerating uphill from stop.Some days the problem is worse than others. I had a new clutch and throwout bearing installed several years ago. I would appreciate any comments for solving this problem. GeorgeColumbus, GA