Date:         Wed, 23 May 2001 06:25:20 -0700
Reply-To:     Henry Jackson <hjackson@well.com>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Henry Jackson <hjackson@well.com>
Subject:      82 Westy diesel - idle problems
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Thanks for everyone's help in offering tips to get my diesel Westy running after a 5 year non-op and helpful suggestions on cleaning the pop top of foliage...

New problem discovered.  (don't you love project cars?)

Diesel motor starts fine from cold or warm.  Runs fine at speed too.  Let it idle for more than a minute and it will start to stumble then die.  It will start up again, and run at speed ok, but idle?..forget it.

Here are some observations and a theory...

Small leak at the pulley end of the injection pump (seal?)
fuel evident in the line from the filter, but when it stalls, I see lots of air bubbles backing up to the filter from the pump.
when I replaced the filter, very little fuel in the filter cartridge.

Theory:
under normal running pressurization, the diesel pump does it's thing ok, but at lower rpms the leak does not allow enough pressure to build up and fuel starvation sets in.  

Or..

there is a blockage in the fuel line from the tank, and the fuel filter is running dry (but then it would starve at higher RPM, no?)

Local mechanic believes it is the pump, suggests that since it didn't run for such a long time the seal dried out.  Says to run it through a few tanks of fresh diesel with a fuel additive to see if the seal "self repairs".  "...what do you have to loose?"  (famous last words anyone?)

Who needs an Agatha Christy novel when there is a diesel to troubleshoot?

Thanks in advance.

Henry

[text/html]