Date:         Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:11:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: More Fuel Pump Weirdness - Has Mercury gone retrograde again?
Comments: To: Pat Sloan <pmsloan@shaw.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <69CF5EBE84F5427EBCA3A2CF93942E4D@PC245562293221>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Who is your mechanic?

I would set up a fuel pump arrangement similar to the stock gas motor
version with a plastic filter, a Bosch pump and a metal pressurized filter
all feeding the motor and a return line taking the excess fuel back to the
tank.

What are you using for a pressure regulator?

Jake

On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Pat Sloan <pmsloan@shaw.ca> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> The Otter continues to have problems with coughing and dying. After trying
> a
> lot of things, it seems to come back to the fuel pump, which is buzzing and
> stressed because it is not getting enough fuel. Therefore it chokes, coughs
> and dies.
>
> Background: This is a 1982 Vanagon camper. It was originally a diesel, but
> was converted to a US 1987 1.8 L Jetta engine about 60,000 miles ago. So
> she
> is now a water-cooled, gas-powered van. Since buying her last Nov, she has
> had new fuel lines installed and reinstalled (first mechanic used inferior
> materials), fuel tank has been sealed (multiple leaks), replaced O rings on
> fuel injectors and tied down the several fuel injectors which were loose
> and
> would pull right out of the engine, and replaced ignition switch, battery
> and muffler.
>
> Now we are thinking that the problem relates to the conversion from its
> original diesel state to its conversion to a gas engine.
>
> Can anyone comment or verify my understanding of how the conversion affects
> the fuel pump issue?
>
> My Understanding:
>
> The diesel Vanagon actually has 2 fuel pumps - 1 located in the gas tank,
> which pulls the fuel up into the fuel lines and sends it along to fuel pump
> #2, near the engine, which actually pushes the fuel into the engine. There
> is no fuel pump in the gas tank of my Otter. The fuel pumps which have been
> installed so far (2 by highly recommended VW mechanics, but that's a story
> best left until my blood pressure cools down) have only been 'pusher' fuel
> pumps located near the engine. Therefore, the pump isn't getting enough
> fuel
> from the tank and after a while, it gets stressed and stops. Hence, the
> Otter's coughing and dying experiences.
>
> There is a universal fuel pump available, which does both the pulling (from
> the tank) and the pushing (into the engine). My mechanic wants to install
> this and it sounds sensible to me.
>
> Does it sound sensible to you?
>
> Thanks for any input.
>
> Pat
>
> 1982 Vanagon w/87 Jetta engine - Otter
>



--
Jake

1984 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX 'The Grey Van'
1986 Westy Weekender/2.5 SOHC Suby 'Dixie'

Crescent Beach, BC

www.thebassspa.com
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27