I've got an '85 vanagon and have been wondering a few things.

1) My temperature gauge has recently quit working accurately. It rarely 
makes it above the white area in the Temp gauge. It moves maybe 1/8 of 
the gauge when it usually goes to about 1/2 way.

- Maybe related is I get almost NO heat from the heaters.

2) When shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear wile going uphill, if I try to 
accelerate in 3rd while the RPM's are low the car will usually give one 
quick lurch. Hard to describe. I'll do better if interested.

3) When I was fishing a couple of weekend ago the car would all of a 
sudden lose power. It would still almost maintain my speed, but pushing 
the accellerator the rest of the way had no effect. If I turned the car 
all the way off, and then restarted it, full power would return. BTW, 
this was after about 5 hours of driving

4) When it is running in the lower RPM range, it wont run as smoothly. It 
is a little "weak" for a second in the new gear, then it almost feels 
like it 'kicks in'. At least as much as a van can 'kick'.

Any clues on what might be happening? I think it would probably be a good 
Idea to get the cooling system checked out, but I don't know what the 
"lurching" and loss of power be. Any suggestions on what to check or have 
a mechanic look at?

Please give me ANY guesses that you might have so that I can start from 
somewhere.

Thanks!
Aaron Robinson

'85 Vanagon Weekender w/sunroof