I agree full time monitoring might be rxcessive, so add a DPDT switch so the
oil gauge can do double duty. Why? Car will not start, switch it over; no
fuel pressure. AHA! Pumps out.
After a fill-up you notice terrible gas milage, switch it over; too much
pressure. AHA! fuel regulator.
Or you smell it's running rich, switch it over,  turn off the engine and
notice the pressure plummit. AHA! leaky injectors.

I think I just talked myself into trying to hook one up.

As for the sparks, doubt it. Besides, have you ever opened a fuel pump (on
the work bench) and applied power? You would be horrified at the shower of
sparks the brushes produce!

Ken Lewis
http://neksiwel.20m.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Haynes" <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] permanent fuel pressure gauge

> I think full time monitoring of fuel pressure is a bit crazy.
>
> Ok, so you see a fuel pressure change, is it electrical, is the pump
> sticking, did the injectors fail to fire, did the pump suck a rock, or
> maybe a filter is clogged. Still tells you nothing.
>
> Maybe we should monitor every electrical connection back to lights on
> the dash board. One for each injector, and a meter on each sensor.
>
> In general, the fuel system will work or it doesn't. When it fails, it
> is usually sudden and you will still have to do some trouble shooting.
>
> Oil pressure sensors are electrical devices and they are not rated or
> designed to carry gasoline. Imagine one leaking and then a sparking
> ground connection.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of jake beaulieu
> Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 5:57 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: permanent fuel pressure gauge
>
> Hello,
>
> It is easy enough to rig a temporary fuel pressure gauge to diagnose
> engine
> problems, but this doesn't help you when your driving down the road and
> it
> starts acting up.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to monitor the fuel
> pressure in real-time?  What about installing a VDO pressure sender in
> the
> fuel rail and then running it up to the oil pressure gauge?  My oil
> pressure
> gauge goes up to about 5 bar, which is about 70 psi.  This would work
> great
> for the fuel system which runs around 32 psi.  The only other addition
> would
> be a switch to toggle between the fuel pressure and oil pressure
> senders.
> For those of us who already have an oil pressure gauge installed this
> would
> be a pretty painless addition since the senders are pretty cheap.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thanks,
> Jake
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
> Of
> Roger Van Till
> Sent: Sunday, March 05, 2006 5:14 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: intermittent stumbling, stalling etc
>
> Have you checked fuel pressure AND flow?
> Is your CHT sensor good? You can check that with a meter at different
> temps (ambient air vs. after a hot water bath).
>
> Roger
>
> On Mar 5, 2006, at 2:50 PM, jake beaulieu wrote:
>
> > Hey everyone,
> >
> > Alright, I have an 82 air cooled Vanagon, Federal model, so no O2
> > sensor to
> > worry about.  When running the van will unexpectedly begin to totally
> > bog
> > down, total loss of power, barely able to keep it running.  If I let
> > up on
> > the accelerator it will die.  When restarted it will continue to do
> > this for
> > 1-10 minutes, then all of a sudden it will run fine again.  5 minutes
> > down
> > the road it will do it again.  Sometimes it only last about 30
> > seconds, then
> > runs excellent again.  So it is an intermittent problem, a very
> > frustrating
> > type of gremlin to chase.  I have spliced new terminals to all of the
> > fuel
> > injection grounds (including the tranny to chassis ground).  I am not
> > sure
> > where to look next.  If it is some sort of intermittent short in the
> > wiring
> > it could be anywhere!  Any ideas out there?
> >
> > PS. The AFM checks out according to Bentley
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jake
> >
>
>