<<I have also suffered the failure of my ECU on a '84 Digijet 1.9 = litre Westy.

When it happened, it locked the injectors open (I found out later)and as= a result , after running for a few seconds, the engine quit and would not r= estart.     
I did not know the injectors were open and I continued to crank the engi= ne until the battery was dead.   I jumped it off and tried in vain to st= art it.   
I replaced several ignition components and did several tests,over severa= l days, each time cranking and cranking, to no avail.
Then the engine did finally start.    It ran very rough and when I= revved it, It spewed oil out of the exhaust pipe and smelt of gas.
I immediarely shut it down and checked the crankcase and found it full o= f oil and gas.
Then I made a couple of phone calls to a parts dealer in Michigan who to= ld me that this happens when the ECU fails.
I drained the oil, put in fresh, borrowed a known good ECU and it cranke= d and ran fine.           I sent the ECU  to Darrell B= oehler but he has not been able to fix it.
Later on I had a bucking problem and thought the ECU had failed again.
However, it turned out to the wire going to be the Aux Air regulator und= er the airbox which was going to ground and depriving the injectors of their= ground through the ECU.    This wire is connected to the injectors wi= th a hidden connection inside the wiring loom.    It was very hard to = find.       
I rewired the aux air valve to get its power from another source and hav= ent had a problem since.
Just wanted to share my experience with the group, and it may be relevan= t to your problem.

Good luck with your van,

Steve Cotsford>>

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Steve, List,

I put a voltage spike surge protector in my charging system to protect t= he ECU and other 12 volt electronics . (laptop, etc.)
It seems to make sense that a transient spike can ruin a PC, why not an = ECU?

The product is from a company in NJ called VDC.(http://www.vdcelectronic= s.com/ )

This company also makes trickle chargers that won't overcharge batteries= .

Thought you and the list might be interested. I can't be certain that th= is accounts for the cause of Vanagon ECU failure, but it can't hurt to elimi= nate one of the possibilities.

Robert
1982 Westfalia