

| Subject: | Re: Diesel fuel lines and air leaks = nostart |
| From: | Roger Whittaker |
| Date: | Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:13:46 -0800 |
Dear Poppie how interesting ... my 1.6TD was acting this way and then i replaced to 1,9TD so almost right away i start getting real lag from turn plugs to heat to start ... monday it would not start at all ... i went to a Chain Saw Shop and got transparent fuel line from them (marine shop also has) so not only is there frothing in the fuel line .. there is also a great emptiness in the fuel filter -- so i am sucking air till it starts -- then great puff of white smoke -- if i have been driving recently -- like 1 hour -- zoom zoom zs they say it goes right off with out even a full turn of crank --- so today -- i opened the screw on the top of the marine style fuel filter i have used to replace the factory fuel filter --- topped up the diesel in the filter ... and varoom .. right off --- hmmm -- so ii then go to Canadian tire and pick up a 10$ Marine Style inline fuel primer bulb installed on the vanagon (pictures will come if you want ) tomorrow after sitting all night will tell the story -- because of the double check valves on the primer bulb -- i should not have the empty filter -- but who knows -- if i have to squeeze every morning ...i will remount close to the license plate inspection door for easy access i will let you know tomorrow morning -- me in pacific canada time zone yours On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 4:32 PM, Poppie Jagersand <poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca > wrote: > Typing "Diesel" into the search box there doesn't seem to have > been any Diesel posts since Sept! Are we Diesel owners so few, or > is it just that the Diesel is too reliable and therefore not > many Diesel topics? > > After exactly 10 years of reliable service since my 1.6 to 1.9TD > conversion in 1998, I got some starting problems this month. > (Only other repair was a broken throttle cable some years ago > -- can't blame that on the engine though). > > The symptoms were the same as I had experienced on my Passat TD > years ago. Lots of cranking before it would fire. (bad for starter and > injection pump). Finally no go regardless of amount of cranking... > I guessed problem was likely the same as on the Passat also: an > air leak into the fuel system. > > Only issue is how to find the culprit. In the good old days > Diesel VW's came with a transparent fuel hose between the fuel > filter and injection pump. At 26 years of age my hose was no > longer transparent and I didn't see anything. Off to the VW dealer > to try to get the right hose. No luck, oldest tech mentioned he > remembered they having this transparent fuel hose a decade back, > but not recently. Instead they set me up with some VAG generic > fuel hose to replace sections until it would work again. > > I replaced, replaced and replaced, checked fuel filter, junctions > etc. Still no go. A tricky issue is that leaks both in the line > from the tank and the various return lines will give the problem. > Tired of mindlessly replacing hoses I remembered that I had found > a lab vacuum pump at a dumpster as a kid. Rummaging through the > house I finally found the pump and a bit of clear hose. > Pulling fuel up from the tank it was full of bubbles. I was just > about to start tearing out the fuel line from the tank, when I thought > I should try the return circuits also. Bubbles there also... > What now? Holes everywhere? > > Luckily I noticed that cranking the engine with a partially filled > fuel pump would be "frothing" the fuel. Then when not cranking this > air-fuel mixture would get pulled back down in both the inlet and > return fuel lines. Sure enough, after pumping enough fuel (a > litre or two (the volume of the fuel filter + line maybe), it > finally ran clear and bubble free from the input line. > I similarly pumped the frothy stuff out of the return line and > pump housing (which is normally fully filled with Diesel). > > Now sure enough, the engine would finally start and run well. > Found and replaced a marginal hose, the one between the injector > returns and the fuel pump. Engine now starts after sitting a > few hours. Will let it sit a few days now and see if it still > works. > > Next was to charge the battery after all the cranking. Almost > knocked myself out, not seeing that the hatch was hanging a bit > lower due to weak struts and cold fall weather. Then I remembered > that I recently stumbled across a piece of PVC pipe I got at one > of the camp outs out east a decade ago. Inside was a piece of > paper from Karl and Kristina Bloss on how to install it around > the hatch strut so to prop up the strut and keep the hatch up > regardless of temperature. Installed in a snap, and no more banged > heads! > > Karl and Kristina: Thanks! Hope you are still around. > > Cheers, > Martin and Poppie '82 Westy 1.9TD > > > > > __________________________________________________________________ > Connect with friends from any web browser - no download required. Try the > new Yahoo! Canada Messenger for the Web BETA at > http://ca.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > + To unsubscribe from the Vanagon List send an e-mail to > + listserv@gerry.vanagon.com with SIGNOFF VANAGON > + in the body of the message. > ------------------------------------------------------------ > -- roger w There are two kinds of jobs in the world: Picking up garbage and telling people things. Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw) ---------------------------------------------------------- Explore printed work at: http://www.prliving.ca/ View the growing list of video work at: http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners and ... older work at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7135104650374818257 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3259745150182742364 ------------------------------------------------------------ + To unsubscribe from the Vanagon List send an e-mail to + listserv@gerry.vanagon.com with SIGNOFF VANAGON + in the body of the message. ------------------------------------------------------------
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