Date:         Sun, 30 Jul 2000 22:32:54 -0500
Reply-To:     James Fritz <jfritz@willinet.net>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         James Fritz <jfritz@willinet.net>
Subject:      fuel pump's a buzzin'
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-Ascii"

Volks,
Made it to Colorado.  Great trip.  Everything went smooth.  But driving around town Fort Collins with my brother today the fuel pump suddenly started buzzin'.  I've read a bunch of the archives enough to know that #1 replace the fuel filters (done last summer - 8000K ago), #2 look out for crud in the gas tank (no clue on this one), #3 it seems to be more problematic when its warm (90 degrees here today....warmest the van has seen all summer), and etc.

I also checked prices ($150 & $160 from Bus Depot and Vanagain) and looked in my Bentley to confirm that the buzzing culprit is indeed the fuel pump.  The archives seem to say; #1 it'll probably get me back to Iowa, #2 its not rocket science to replace this thing (although the post about removing the ground strap to prevent fire is probably not something that I would have thought of.....hey, I'm a band director, not a mechanic :-), #3 later problems could include rust and crud getting to fuel injectors if I put it off and possible fire?

So, here's my question:  Should I have them overnight it to me here in Fort Collins and replace it out on the my brother's driveway (he's got a lousy selection of tools and I just brought the bare minimum) or should I just ignore it til I get home and have my VW guru Chris fix it?  I'm really more of the "preventive maintenance guy" but don't need to spend my short vacation fixing the Westy if it isn't dire.

So what says ye, oh great list?

Jim in Iowa (Fort Collins, Colorado til Thursday)
91 Passat Wagon GL
89 Westy
66 Beetle