Update:  I drove the A.B. all the way from Carlsbad, NM, to Oklahoma City
and she ran fine.  I did notice a couple of minor hesitations, but she
immediately straightened out and never died.  I'm planning to get a good
fuel pump and carry it with me, but as long as she's running I'm not going
to mess with her.  I am going to go ahead and change the fuel filter though.

Maggie

Date:    Tue, 1 Nov 2005 16:25:45 -0700
From:    jimt <camper@TACTICAL-BUS.INFO>
Subject: Re: Breakdown in Cloudcroft(NVC)

I have had the same thing happen on vehicles.  The sounds the pump was
putting out was definitely not good and the filter was clean.  Got irratated
on one in a jetta and hit it with my hand and the noise went away and pump
started to function normally.  I still replaced that pump a couple weeks
later when I was doing some other work under that vehicle.  I remembered
that incident when my vanagon was making noises last year on what I knew was
a new filter and the noise was like the noise the jetta had been making.
Smacked it a good one a couple times and the pump was again working with its
normal buzz.  Note that I carry a spare fuel pump anyway just in case
because of strange places I drive into. (actually two spares are in the
van.)
jimt

On 11/1/05 12:54 PM, "Mark Tuovinen" <mst@AK.NET> wrote:

> Maggie,
>
> Fuel pumps will do that to you.  My 1990 Jeep Cherokee would not start four
> years ago, we traced the problem to the fuel pump and set out to replace it.
> Of course this was the day before we were to set out on a weekend trip
and the
> tank was full of fuel and the Jeep full of camping gear, two tandem sea
kayaks
> and their gear.  We jacked up the Jeep, put jack stands under it and started
> to drain the tank.  For some reason I turned the key on after we had removed
> about seven gallons of fuel, the pump started up.  It was late, dark,
raining,
> and we were in no mood to be changing the pump anyway, so we lowered the
Jeep
> back to the ground and took it for a test drive.  It ran fine, and has been
> almost perfect ever since.  In the last four years it has been to the Arctic
> Circle and back, numerous road trips to McCarthy, Seward, etc.  About once a
> year it will not start unless I take a long stick and hit the tank next
to the
> fuel pump(which is in the tank), mean while the new pump
> is on the floor next to the drivers seat.  Someday it may leave me stranded
> but I am able to repair it when that happens and hope to sell it before
then,
> I will of course inform the future owner of this condition.
>
> Mark in AK