Date:         Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:54:39 -0700
Reply-To:     James Ballen <jamosb78@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         James Ballen <jamosb78@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Engine cuts/drops out while accellerating - 2.1 WBX
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hey folks,

Now I know there are several reasons that this could be happening...and am trying to narrow down the possibilities.

Here's the deal:

'86 westy weekender with a rebuilt 2.1 WBX, ~40k miles on it.
Have had very few issues with it until today. We drove it about 75
miles yesterday on the freeway and on some curvy, hilly roads. It ran
great.

Today coming back on those hilly, curvy, sometimes bumpy roads it
started to cut out when accelerating...causing the van to buck a
little. It started to do it more frequently, happening probably 15
times in as many miles. Gas was getting low, we filled up and I wanted
to determine if problem was still there. Still happening, almost
stalled at idle twice, but always catching itself and continuing to run.

I checked out the engine bay, and found a small brown, ground wire that
had some deterioration in the jacket...it was sitting on the block and
was pretty hot. I zip-tied it up to a hose to keep it cooler, and while I
was doubtful this was the culprit, I did it anyway. Couldn't find
anything else that looked off...so we continued on. I'd say in the 50
or so miles after that, it happened 3 to 4 times...seeming to
correspond with a bump in the freeway, although it could be a
coincidence.

We made it home and after unloading the van. I poked around, moving
all wires I could get to while the motor was idling, hoping to find one
that caused the problem. Nada. Couldn't make it happen.

So...when it happens:

-the engine and tach die, but it never lasts long enough for the tach to fall all the way down.
-almost always while accelerating, never with my foot off the gas.
-engine never completely died, and always started right up after I did shut it off.

I thought it might be "vanagon syndrome", but since it happened at idle, I think that's ruled out, no?

I thought it might be a fuel filter issue, and I think I'll replace it anyway.

I thought it might be a ground wire issue, but can't find any
obvious problems besides the one I described...which I'll be splicing a
section of new wire into soon.

What else should I be looking for?