Date:         Sat, 03 May 97 00:02:46 CDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Fuel Filter Help

no prob. :)  lay on the ground, with your head under the bus, on the side
with the sliding door. turn your head to the left (assuming your feet are
sticking out from under the bus!) and look at the fuel tank. see the big
rubber hose that comes out of the fuel tank, and runs kinda along that
big frame member, heading back toward the rear of the bus?? follow that
rubber hose and the first big bump you come to is the fuel pump (it should
have electrical wires going into it). a very short distance rearward of that
will be one of two things, connected to the fuel line:
- a small clear/yellowish square thingie. this is the original type of fuel
  filter on the air-cooled vanagons. it's plastic. undo the clamps, and twist
  the filter (rotating it around the front-rear axis) ... this breaks the
  "grip" of the rubber on the plastic. then just kinda twist-and-pull one
  end at a time until it comes out.
  this type of fuel filter costs about $6-8 at your local parts store.
- a big silver metal cannister, about 8 inches long. this is the later type
  of fuel filter, and costs about $30 each!! but you don't have to change
  them but maybe every 25,000 miles or so (or every two years). you get it
  off the same way.

now. things to watch out for:
*gasoline*. well, it IS the fuel hose. and when you start twisting and pulling
  on that filter, the gasoline inside the hose is gotta go somewhere! it helps
  if you have some vice grip pliers to clamp off the hose with, at BOTH ends
  (between the pump and filter, and rearward after the filter). but do NOT
  let the pliers grip the rubber directly (the teeth in the jaws can cut the
  hose). so get some thing strips of wood or cardboard or a rag and put them
  between the jaws and the hose.  it also helps a LOT if the front of the
  bus is downhill a bit (that keeps the fuel in the tank from wanting to come
  toward the back of the bus).

  you WILL get gasoline on you, so be careful. have a towel to wipe it off,
  and have some water (faucet/spigot, hose, whatever) close by to wash it
  off your skin. gasoline will BURN your skin (it's a very mild acid) and
  cause a rash, especially in your armpits!! wear safety glasses and keep
  your head off to one side, never directly under the fuel hose.

- screw clamps. naturally, the idiot who changed the filter last time will
  have used DIFFERENT kinds of clamps, so one will use a phillips screwdriver
  and another a flat-blade screwdriver, or maybe even require a small hex
  socket to get it off. check first and get the tools you need BEFORE you
  start loosening the first clamp. :)

it would not be a bad idea to buy some new fuel-injection-rated hose and
replace all the fuel hose on the bus. that'll go a long way toward preventing
a fuel leak and subsequent fire. check the sizes first, however. on my 88,
i need TWO different sizes: 10mm (internal diameter) for the fuel tank to
fuel pump; and 8mm (internal diameter) for the rest of the bus. you have
a LOT of fuel hose on a bus (i needed about 12 feet of the 8mm. only about
two feet of the 10mm). and get a couple of dozen new clamps.

it's not very difficult, but you do run the risk of some injury and whenever
you're working with gasoline, you run the risk of fire. so be careful out
there. :)   good luck.

joel