Running it with the gas cap off, as he did .......
'should' eliminate, at least temporarily, and air lock or lack of venting
from the evap system as 'the cause' at least in the short term.
And if the tank gets sucked in , your sure think of the evap system of
course.
but with gas cap off........if that was it, you'd think the engine would run
right with gas cap off.

the thought on the fuel pressure regulator makes sense.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Brennan" <kimbrennan@MAC.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:38 PM
Subject: Re: 90 Vanagon/Westy fuel problem

> Time to replace the charcoal canister, me thinks. That's where the air
> comes through on the way to tank as you consume fuel. Of course, it
> could simply be the rubber hose to the cansiter, but that's a pretty
> good size hose.
>
>
> On Jul 28, 2009, at 5:23 PM, Steven Mills wrote:
>
>> 15 yrs at driving a Vanagon and do my own work, yet this has me
>> stumped.
>> Recent loss of pwr while at highway speed. Acted as if it may be a
>> fuel
>> filter and I replaced. Immediate improvement. Happened again a few
>> weeks
>> later and left stranded on road side. Always have spares of pump and
>> filters, as I am often where they can't be found. When I took pump
>> off,
>> inlet was clogged with sediment. Definite time for tank replacement
>> and
>> did so. No luck. Would crank and fire, just no fuel. Looked under to
>> see
>> that tank had sucked up in a concave manner, so took line off and blew
>> out with air hose to pop back in shape. Would then start, but run
>> for a
>> few seconds and die. Tried with gas cap off, etc. took all fuel lines
>> loose and blew thru them. No fix. Bench checked fuel pump and it
>> pressures right up. Could the fuel pressure regulator valve been
>> trashed
>> with the suction that caused the tank to collapse? Something is not
>> letting the system pressure equalize as the fuel level drops is all I
>> can think of. Any ideas?