Date:         Mon, 17 Jun 1996 13:58:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject:      RE: Stranded in L.A. - 81 won't start


> For those who remeber, Last week my vanagons fuel gauge stopped
> working so I ran out of gas (didn't know this until I was towed to my
> mechanic and he dertimed the problem).  Well, I picked up the van,
> determine/ fix this?  Gas must be fine, I assume fuel pump is also.

Whoa there, not so fast. I screwed up a perfectly good Toyota Cressida
by running it out of gas. Turns out, on that car, the fuel pump is located
*inside* the gas tank, and one of its characteristics is that it is cooled
by the gasoline itself. Also may be damped, regulated, who knows what.

But running that car out of gas, trashed the fuel pump, even tho it was
working fine before that. An odd and rather idiot-prone failure mode,
which is why I no longer drive it  :-\

I heard that such a fuel pump is only happy when pumping against a
pretty high pressure, such as that in a fuel-injected system. When you
run our, suddenly it's pushing air, and can have problems. Any chance that
a Vanagon can be affected this way?

The V6anagon has a carb (now), and the normal Chevy fuel pump mounted
to the engine and actuated by a pushrod inside the engine. Sort of like
a type-1 engine, only sideways and a whole lot harder to service. Where
is the fuel pump mounted on a "real" Vanagon?
 ______________________________________________________________________
           _                                            ______________
    ______//________    Steve Maher    smaher@gi.com   //__][__||____\\
   /o _   |  -| _   \   San Diego, CA     75461,1717  (o _-|       _ o|
   `-(_)=======(_)---'                                 '(_)-------(_)-'
 '66 Mustang Coupevertible      '89 Son Sherwin        '80 VW V6anagon

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