Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 09:06:24 -0400
Reply-To: "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "G.M.Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject: Re: Emergency fuel line repair
In-Reply-To: <3DA25430.C0D28B39@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
And not to be ornery, but I think it is a lesson in preventive
maintenance. Since I don't have an '84, I have a hard time imagining how
the throttle cable and the fuel lines came close together (on my 1982
they at a foot apart at the closest, but that's beside the point).
If one consistently checks everything under the hood, and if one
verifies that everything is present, even the little cable ties and
brackets that VW put on the car to keep one thing from rubbing against
another, one finds the need for hauling a toolbar and a bunch of spares
superfluous.
I do carry a couple feet of FI line, some utility wire (14g?), a pair of
hose clamps, and a set of points/condenser in case the Pertronix dies
when we are in the boonies. Other than that, I can't think of any
"parts" we carry. The tradeoff? I do spend a fair amount of time under
the van each week (in the safety and convenience of my own garage)
checking "what rattled" and maintaining things.
Bringing your ideas to life,
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of John Rodgers
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 11:43 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Emergency fuel line repair
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
