Time for a follow up, its been a few weeks.

Week 1 - My immediate fix to the problem was to drive to the desert and go
camping. Van ran great and we had fun.

Week 2 - Did the water spray test in the dark, no sparks or missing seen.
Checked the inside of distributor - looked nice and clean,and no tracks.
Took Scott's advice on adjusting the TPS, the only thing I hadn't done,
which he expertly pointed out. For some reason, I had been avoiding doing
this procedure for some time, mainly because I could hear it clicking when
I moved the throttle linkage by hand. Read the Bentley procedure for my 1
switch design, and saw that the symptoms described exactly matched the
symptoms I was experiencing. Misfire when cold, and flooding / fouled
plugs on long off-throttle descents. So I finally adjusted the switch. It
was pretty easy, though the switch was near the limit of its adjustment
range, and its final position would change whenever I snugged up on the
adjusting screws. I put my ohm meter in beep mode and moved the
accelerator pedal from the drivers seat - that way I could hear the switch
working under actual operating conditions.
Took the van to the mountains, parked & camped overnight in the clouds and
the morning frost. It ran fine, no more symptoms. A little plug fouling on
the long downhill home, buy way better than before.

Week 3 - More cool damp weather, drove around town for several trips. Ran
fine, no more symptoms. I think I got it.

Thanks Scott and Zoltan, for your help and motivation. This list is a
great thing.

Walter

On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:41:55 -0800, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
<scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:

>fwiw, I've yet to have any issue ever with a Bosch distributor cap on a
>waterboxer vanagon. ( Non-Bosch ones I replace automatically, even if
new )
>.
>So for me......as long as it's a half decent Bosch dist cap, it's probably
>not that.
>
>but I would pursue ignition breakdown in the presence of moisture,
>especially with the plug wires.
>
>some of my low tech but often very effective tricks for testing spark plug
>wires -
>
>In TOTAL Darkness, watch the engine running, looking for tiny electrical
>leaks, little flashes ....if you see any, the plug wires are leaking.
>With the engine running .......spray a mist of water on the plug wires and
>coil....any stumbling ..........you suspect the spark plug wires.
>
>too large spark plug gaps could contribute to voltage leaking upstream of
>the spark plugs.
>
>and bosch parts ........that's what I only use.
>I'll use NGK spark plugs say, but for cap, rotor, or wires, Bosch.
>and ......there are plug wires better than Bosch ones - based on what a
set
>costs me, I figure they are ok, but not the best made in the world.
>
>and even though all electrical contacts have been cleaned ........I'd do
it
>again , with electrical contact spray cleaner.
>I'd want some extra components to swap in too............ecu, air flow
meter
>etc.
>But mainly, I'd concentrate on ignition to start with.
>oh...........spray everything down with WD-40.
>Everywhere except inside the alternator.
>I might even try it on the running, cold, stumbling engine.
>I have seen an electrical 'not right' connection get instantly fixed with
an
>application of that magic juice.
>and I find throttle switches off all the time, and I don't think I saw
that
>on the list, so check that.
>'most' of the vanagons I encounter, have a non-working, or an incorrectly
>adjusted throttle switch at idle.
>
>
>Scott
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Zoltan" <thewestyman@GMAIL.COM>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 10:17 AM
>Subject: Re: 1.9 Stumbles When Damp
>
>
>> You said, you changed it, but for me most of the time it is the cap.
>> Moisture inside connects the four edges that also maybe loaded with
>> graphite
>> from the center piece.  It can eventually crack the cap also along the
>> line
>> where the "lightning" is travelling.
>> Zoltan
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Walter Houle" <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 7:40 AM
>> Subject: 1.9 Stumbles When Damp
>>
>>
>>> My 85 1.9 has had this problem for more than 2 years and I've never
been
>>> able to solve it. Its time to ask the experts. Whenever the van sits
>>> overnight and its cool and damp out, it misfires until it warms up. It
>>> idles fine, but won't rev under load without breaking up. When I say
its
>>> cool and damp, its the San Diego version, which means 50 degrees and
65%
>>> RH. It doesn't matter if the van is in the garage or outside in the
rain.
>>> The problem is intermittent, which is one of the reasons that its been
>>> around so long. Once the van gets fully up to temperature, the problem
>>> vanishes and it runs fine until the next damp day, which usually is a
few
>>> weeks away. However, its finally getting worse, so its time to do
>>> something about it.
>>>
>>> Over the past 2 years, some of the items that I replaced were the coil,
>>> cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, hall sender & connector, injectors, temp
>>> sensor, and O2 sensor. I also have cleaned all ground connections and
>>> cable connections at the ECU, AFM, idle stabilizer, etc. I have not
dealt
>>> with the last 3 items other than simple cleaning. Next 2 simple things
>>> I'll check are the wire & connections for the temp and the O2 sensors.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Walter
>>> 85 VAnagon 1.9