Since I moved from NorCal to the Salt Lake City area my Westy has been running like… well, actually it hasn’t been running. That’s the problem. At first it started dying every time I pulled to a stop (sign, light, for the little ol’ lady crossing the street). Then I parked it and out of frustration just let it sit in the garage. When I tried to start it up weeks later I was severely disappointed. Nothing. Then I remembered the name of a shop that the owner of LateNightAircooled in Chico, CA (he installed the rebuilt tranny right before the move) recommended: Blackline Racing. Long story short, I dropped the Bus off and by the end of the day the issue was solved.
The primary cause of the problem, according to the owner of the shop, was that the mass airflow sensor was adjusted too lean (14 clicks!). There were some other things contributing to poor engine operation as well. They installed new spark plugs, fully charged the battery, cleaned the cranking battery terminals and replaced the positive terminal end, tightened down the intake boots, and replaced bad timed port vacuum lines that had deteriorated.
Not only was the service amazing, the dude behind the wrench was cool. Blackline hosts the Salt City Air Coolers club meetings and he extended an invite as I left the shop. Good people, so it would seem.
Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked to have found a quality AC VW garage to work on my Westy.