I pulled the filter yesterday [after cursing and crying all day over the
clutch costs] and what came out of the input end looked like bad tomato
soup.

Either I got a bad load of fuel with water in it and that was globbing up
and making it miss [as suggested by Joel] or my fuel tank is so rusted that
the rust is clogging the filter.  BenT has a good deal on a good used tank
so maybe I'll put one in just in case, which would also let me change out
all the hoses on top of the tank.  Oh!  Joy!.

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: Shawn Wright <swright@SLS.BC.CA>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: Thanks, and, uhhh, van misses

> On 15 Jul 2001, at 0:05, mike miller wrote:
>
> > Dear wise listees [you can tell I want something]
> >
> > Thank you for the responses to the transmission problem.  Turned out to
be a
> > blown pilot bearing, apparently it hadn't been changed when the last
clutch
> > job or two were done.  Darn
>
> Been there... Had to drive Hwy99 from Lilloet to Vancouver with a
> seized pilot bearing - not a lot of fun.
>
> > Missing.
> >
> > The van started missing under load on a trip to Southern California
[from
> > northern Cal.].  After the clutch job drove it once and it was fine.
Then
> > as soon as I started back to Nor Cal it started missing again.  this
time
> > felt like it was running on 3 cylinders.  Then it would clear and  run
fine,
> > then back to missing.
> >
>
> Funny, I've been fighting an intermittent miss for the past 4 years,
> and have tried everything including the capacitor fix on the airbox
> to no avail. A few weeks back, after driving down, then up an
> *incredibly* steep ramp down to a boat shop, the van started missing
> *really* bad, to the point where it would stall if I put the clutch
> in. Pulled over, checked everything, all looked ok. Thinking some
> crud had slid down the tank and into the fuel filter, I headed for a
> FLAPS, but the missing stopped after 10-15 minutes of driving. When I
> replaced the filter, there was a lot of sediment in the gas that
> drained out, and the last bit was *black*! I realized that I have
> never changed the filter! I thought I had when we bought the van 5
> years ago, but the mounting screw was stripped (I had to drill it out
> - stupid philips head), so I must have forgot. I cut the filter open
> (it was a german made KAYSER, with thick aluminum can) and found it
> was very dirty looking. Now I'm wondering if this could have caused
> the problems all these years... We'll find out when we head out in a
> few days.
>
> ps: If you cut the filter near one end, the large part makes a good
> funnel to which you can attach small tubing for topping up coolant in
> the rad, etc...
>
> pps: Anyone know why the fuel filter is placed after the pump in the
> digifant system? I hate to think of all that crud going through my
> pump...
>
>
> Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
> Shawnigan Lake School
> swright@SLS.bc.ca
> http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
> http://www.sls.bc.ca
>