Date:         Fri, 22 Nov 1996 21:04:56 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         TStone8359@aol.com
Subject:      Re: What a Long Strange Trip It's Been 

Re: VW Vanagon fuel pump.

Broke down on the freeway one time on a Sunday somewhere between Norfolk,Va,
and Winston-Salem, NC.  No fuel pressure in the fuel injector supply line.
 Got towed to the nearest gas station.  They took one look and said they knew
nothing about fuel injection, but knew someone who did.  Said he was always
at the shop but didn't answer phones on Sundays.  No other options were
evident so paid the guy to tow me to this place.  We went way out in the
country and then down a dirt lane and then into a yard filled with kids,
bikes, weeds, coon hounds, and Volvos and Saabs.  I knew that Volvos has
Bosch FI systems, so thought we might be OK.  The wrecker unhooked me and
left.  I went into the garage to see if the FI guru was there.  From under
the hood of a new Saab came a guy that looked like something from
Deliverance.  He has a foul look on his face and didn't respond when I said
hi.  He kept working on the Saab.  Finally, he turned off the ignition,
closed the hood and asked what I wanted.  I told him my sad tale, no fuel in
the supply line to the injectors.  Probably a fuel pump. Did he have one?  We
got to talking about where I was from and where I was headed as he thought
about the problem.  Turned out the foul look was from too much bachelor party
the night before.  He put the van up on the rack and looked at the pump.  We
did some testing - sure enough, the pump was bad.  He had about 100 cars
scattered around the place.  We walked through the fields looking for fuel
pumps.  The van has, if I recall, a small return line connection and a large
supply line connection.  All the Volvos had two big connections.  We talked
about options.  Stay there til Monday and have a new pump delivered from
Raleigh ($450), wait til Monday and check junkyards over the phone (estimate
$200 plus delivery), try to jury rig a Volvo pump (he was in the Volvo
business so these pumps were valuable to him - $200 plus labor).  None of the
options looked good.  Besides, we were on a vacation with my brother's family
and both families were now stranded in Norfolk while I drove the only vehicle
to a car show in Winston-Salem.  Home was in Illinois.  I began to think
about hitching to Raleigh and renting a car.  Just as I was about to give up,
we came upon a late 70s-early 80s Fiat X/19 that met an early grave as the
result of a misplaced tree.  There inside the rear engine cover, was the
correct fuel pump.  Fifteen minutes and $90 later, I was on the road again.
 And its still going after $50k miles.  Moral of the story?  It doesn't
always have to be a VW to have the right parts.  

Tom '77 bus
       '85 Westy
       '87 GL with Fiat fuel pump