Thanks everyone for their emails and thanks Dave for calling.  I had asked
Ed Duntz the name of mechanic before I left and ended up calling him. It was
Alex at Motorworks in Millertown, NY. He told me he'd stay late for me and
was waiting when we arrived. We took a drive in the van and listened out the
side door. He still could not make out what is was but said we should grease
up the CV's just in case. He put it on the lift and gave it a good looking
over. First he found the muffler was making a noise but then told me the
noise was coming from the engine compartment.  After the obligatory removal
of all the campin gear in the back he found the clip to the air flow meter
was the problem.

Well it's kinda embarrassing but its much better a clip go than something
serious.  I was really impressed with Alexes knowledge of Vanagons and
jokingly told him I;m going to leave it there for a month so he can make it
as good as new. :)

Bryan