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Date:         Tue, 12 May 2009 07:53:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ken Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Digifant Fuel System Troubleshooting Experience
Comments: To: Dave Arthur <dave.arthur@NSCC.CA>
In-Reply-To:  <C62E4F1D.7CB4%dave.arthur@nscc.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Dave, did you do the test for the bad fuel pressure regulator? These go bad more than the pumps. I have an economy aftermarket pump for $125 if you decide to go this way. I wouldn't rig it with a check valve. You didn't like the other guy's rigging, and if the check valve in the pump is bad the pump isn't far behind. Let me know if I can help you further.

Ken wilford John 3:16 www.vanagain.com

Dave Arthur wrote: > I hope I never get to be one of those PO (Previous Owners). I hate it when > technicians(?) take short cuts and 'make it work'. > > I've been tracking down an uneven idle and decide it was time to do a test > of the injectors. I work at a community college and borrowed an OTC kit, it > consists of a pressure gauge and an electronic device to manually fire the > injectors. > > The procedure is to fit the pressure gauge into the fuel system, turn on the > ignition to pressurize the system (pump should shut off after 5 seconds), > note the fuel pressure and then fire the injector (50 pulses at 1 ms per > pulse was suggested), note the resulting fuel pressure and calculate the > drop. All the injectors should have approximately the same drop which > correlates to fuel passed through the injector. Now of course it doesn't > evaluate pattern etc. but its a fast test. > > So I set up and turned on the ignition, the fuel pump runs continuously and > doesn't turn off after 5 seconds. Being a new Vanagon owner I thought that > this was normal... But I'm now suspicious. > > I checked the wiring diagram and see that the pump is actually run through a > relay, that is controlled by the ECU. I removed the relay, turned on the > ignition and the pump still ran. Turns out the PO/Tech had run a wire from > terminal 15 on the coil directly to the pump. So ignition on, pump on. > > This of course is a huge safety issue ... > > I replaced the relay and connected the pump up properly and all was well, > until I checked the fuel pressure. As soon as the pump stopped the fuel > pressure bled down rapidly to zero (~2-3 sec). The manual expects at least > 29 psi after ten minutes! > > I pinched off the fuel return line and individual injectors to test for leak > down issues and concluded that the pump itself was not holding the pressure > when it stopped. > > So the engine runs, but starts hard, with the pump running all the time as > before, the engine started immediately. > > I guess I need to know my options. Could I put a check valve in the pressure > side of the fuel line or should I bite the bullet and get a new pump? > > Dave > > '86 Westy > >


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