Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:19:27 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: More Fuel Pump Weirdness - Has Mercury gone retrograde again?
In-Reply-To: <69CF5EBE84F5427EBCA3A2CF93942E4D@PC245562293221>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
Hi,
as you probably know now, the van does not have an in tank pump. You
will have a pump under the van, tied to right hand side frame rail.
There should be at least one fuel filter nearby, most likely a tin
can shaped affair downsteam of pump. there also could be a smaller
square plastic bodied filter upstream of pump.
Back in 94 when I swapped a I4 gas engine into my diesel westy I had
similar symptoms to what you seem to be having. Mind you this was
only after a about a thousand miles of in town driving then a hundred
or so miles of dirt/gravel bumpy roads (back roads from pavillion to
Nemiah valley).
I pulled the prefilter I had on my fuel line (square one) and flushed
with coleman fuel. A lot of brown crud came out. This was good enough
to let us continue holiday and I got new filter in williams lake.
(you say you have had gas tank "sealed" Is this on the outside or
inside?)
if i was you, I'd pull the prefilter if present (and install one if
not present after..) and see how much gas can flow out of tank
(Careful!) if no prefilter present, replace the tin can filter.
It might be something as simple as diesel crud loosend by gasoline
clogging filter.
alistair
'86 syncro 7 passenger
'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94
http://www.members.shaw.ca/albell/
http://shufti.wordpress.com
On 21-Apr-10, at 12:27 PM, Pat Sloan 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
