Craig, you need to figure out if the pump is the problem or the wiring is
bad.  Even if you bypassed the relay you can't assume the wiring is good.

Run power and ground wires from the battery to the pump.  Verify 12V on your
wires before hooking them to the pump.  Use heavy gauge wire to carry the
current.  Hook the wires directly to the pump so you don't have to mess with
cranking the engine.
This way you know for sure that you have proper voltage and current reaching
the pump.
It is unlikely 2 pumps in a row are bad, unless your spare is dud.

When you get the pump to make noise you should verify pressure and delivery,
but do that after you get the pump to run.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
craig cowan
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 4:08 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Fuel pump issues.

Ok. SO i'm checking out the fuel pump, as it seems to account for the car
not starting. I had a mechanic help me check the relays by jumping them and
he says they seem to be working right and that it just seemed to be a bad
pump. SO, i put in my spare pump (i think its brand new). Well it seems i
wired it backwards because no one ever taught me that on European cars,
BLACK does NOT mean NEGATIVE and they tell me the ground wire should be on
negative and the black wire on positive. So, i switched it, and the car
still doesnt start. Maybe i damaged the pump? Can these get destroyed by
running backwards? If so, i just killed two fuel pumps.

I rigged up a voltmeter to the fuel pump that could be watched from the
drivers seat while turning the key. With the key in the first position
(auxillary) i get only 0.3 Volts to the fuel pump and it does NOT kick over.
When i'm turning the engine over, it gets 9.5 Volts. It seems that this is
drastically wrong. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

-Craig
'85GL