Date:         Mon, 7 Oct 2002 22:42:40 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Emergency fuel line repair
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Interesting happening this weekend.

Made a trip into Tennesee just above Huntsville, Alabama on Sunday. Way
up in the middle of nowhere I noticed the fuel gage needle plummeting
like a stone to the empty mark. I pulled over into a gas station parking
lot to take look see. When I stopped I smelled gas big time, and noticed
a trail coming in behind me. I popped the engine hatch and the engine
was covered with fuel. I waited for a while until the fuel evaporated,
then had my passenger turn on the ignition switch to energize the fuel
pump. Fuel went everywhere.

Seems the end of the throttle cable had been rubbing the fuel injector
line to the right side of the engine and rubbed a hole. Well, I didn't
have an parts to fix that with. No spare hose, no coupling, nada. And
the gas station was of no help. I Was looking in my tool bag and
scratching my head over the problem when I spied my air pressure guage.

AHA! To make the story short, I took the guage apart, and used the tube
handle as a coupling, and as fortune would have it I did have some nylon
tie wraps in the bag. After cinching down on them I was able to fire up
and drive to the next town where I went to a parts house and got proper
repair parts.

While I had plenty of tools, and it worked out OK, it was a lesson about
carrying a good set of the  right spare parts.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver