

| Subject: | Major Hesitation and Power Loss |
| From: | James Wagner |
| Date: | Sat, 08 Feb 1997 22:45:05 -0500 |
In the last week, I had a shop do an oil change on my 85 Vanagon and replace the gaskets on the oil pressure valve and drain plug(both had been leaking). I then replaced the fuel filter and fuel pump the next day because the old one had been buzzing loudly. Also, I attempted to fix the problem of a high idle by turning the throttle body screw in about 2 turns. The idle dropped from about 1800 to about 1000 but oscillated back and forth from 950 to 1050. The next time I drove the car it was fine for the first ten minutes or so, but then just completely lost power above 2000 rpm along with the oil light coming on. The light would only illuminate at around idle and flicker off as rpm rose. The engine would become loud, not in exhaust note so much as in piston and valve train noise it seemed, as the rpm climbed but there is no power, just hesitation and sputtering. At first I thought something had broken in the engine, but idling is fine...no odd noises, maybe just a bit louder in the engine than a few weeks ago. When the engine is relatively cold it revs up fine in neutral, but when warm the hesitation and kind of metalic sound are present even with no load. It hasn't really been driven much in the last four months, 60 miles total. I've been checking the oil regularly and even with the leaks around the gaskets mention above and a slight leak at a push rod tube, the oil level will not drop. It actually has been above the max mark on the dip stick recently, even after a good warm-up and 5 to 10 minutes after stopping. I've encounter timing problems in a 79 bus and the symptoms seem similar except for the oil light and oil level. Any ideas about the problem would be greatly appreciated. James
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