Adding a little alcohol will speed drying in any case. Worth doing in my
opinion.'

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Eric and Marica wrote:

>HI everyone.
>
>To recap, I have an 80 Westie (Rusty):
>
>1) My fuel pump started buzzing and engine started bogging badly.
>2) Optimistically changed my fuel filter (which was full of crap) - No
>change - still buzzing, still bogging.
>3) Changed my fuel pump. Did a diagnostic first (on  the bench) and the
>old one was not pushing 500mL in 30 seconds so in went a new one.
>4) New one buzzed as well.
>5) $#%!!@#!!!!!
>6) pulled off the fuel line from the tank (Passenger side rear). Fuel
>barely dripped out. Blasted compressed air up the tube and Voila! Good,
>solid flow. Reconnected (realizing I really hadn't solved the root
>problem) and the pump ceased buzzing and the van ceased bogging. Whee.
>7) 2 days later, same buzzing problem, intermittent bogging but now
>drivable. I have since blasted air up the outlet tube a couple of times.
>8) Did I mention that some S.O.B. wrote off my other vehicle in a hit
>and run and this was my only wheels? I have since (yesterday in fact)
>purchased a 94 Pathfinder but we are still planning to take 'Rusty'
>through northern BC to Prince Rupert, up to the Queen Charlottes (that's
>Haida Gwaii to you Canucks on the list!), back down to Vancouver Island,
>Tofino, Victoria, Vancouver and home to Edmonton, leaving on the 25th
>ish.  Pressure is on to fix this! I am not bringing my compressor with
>us!
>9) So today I dropped the tank and it's on my bench. It's in REALLY good
>shape (inside and out) so I pawed through the stack of receipts that
>came with it and it was just replaced 3 years ago.
>
>My question(s):
>
>1) if there is (as I suspect) foreign material in the tank, I can't see
>it by sloshing what little gas that's in it around.  Would it be
>incredibly stupid to rinse the tank out (in fact FILL it) with water and
>try to get whatever out? I could let it sun for several days and even
>help it dry out with a small fan.
>2) Does anyone have any idea of the routing of tubes IN the tank itself?
>I can see one going from the DS rear outlet to a vinyl fitting in the
>centre but I can't see anything leading from the PS outlet that seems to
>keep having the fuel restriction. I was briefly tempted to try rooting
>it with a hanger but thought better as the tank seems to have some kind
>of coating on the inside and I thought that making a scratch in it would
>hasten it's rusting out.
>3) I have in my brief time on the list heard that someone has fuel
>supply rebuild 'kits' that include all of the tank fittings (and
>hopefully the condenser tank grommets as well) - could someone point me
>to that person and any idea how long delivery typically is? As I said, I
>need this puppy road worthy in 2 weeks and next Saturday it HAS to go
>back together so I can get it in to Darsh for a pre-trip look over. I
>did suss out the individual parts with VW but really don't want to
>remortgage my house.
>4) does it seem that working on this part of the van makes you feel both
>woozy and giddy at the same time? Gotta love sniffing gas. Whee!
>
>Thanks everyone, I hope your weather is as nice as ours.
>
>- Eric
>80 Westie ' Rusty'
>
>
>