Ark,

Aside from having a fire extinguisher - which one should always have -
on the van itself the first order of business is to replace all the fuel
lines in the engine compartment. The various list vendors sell complete
kits - I got mine from Ken Wilford at Vanagain.com - but  Ron Salmon at
BusDepot.com has them as do the guys at Van-Cafe.com. And there are
others. Be sure to get the complete kit - main fuel lines, fuel injector
hoses, and new injector seals. It is not a difficult taks to do this
installation, just takes a bit of time. Changing the hoses on the
injectors takes the most time, if it has never been done before. But
even so, it still is not difficult.

On the right front of the firewall, there is a plastic fitting to which
the fuel hose attaches. This plastic piece will over time become brittle
and crack, and leaking fuel under pressure can spray fuel over the top
of the engine. THAT is a very bad scene. - leading to an even worse
scene - a completely burned or burning van.

Inside the engine compartment the fuel hose fastens to the plastic
fitting. On the front  side of the firewall is a short rubber hose that
connects the plastic fitting to a plastic fuel line coming from the fuel
tank back to the engine. When I changed out my fuel hoses, I removed the
firewall fitting and that short hose, and I connected the new fuel hose
all the way from the fuel "T" over the engine through the firewall to
the end of the plastic fuel line from the front of the van. I then
wrapped the hose so there would be no chafing and tied it off with a
tie-wrap. I actually didn't pass my new hose through the firewall, but
instead ran it underneath the bottom edge of the firewall. I just made
sure there would be no chafing at that point.

I would make this hose change ASAP to ensure the safety of your van. In
fact, this issue is so crucial, I would not even crank the engine until
the issue was taken care of.

After the engine fuel hoses are replaced, then move on to the other
hoses up front around the fuel tank. They rot as well.

Good luck.

John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com

Arkady Mirvis wrote:
> Mine is 1987 Westy looking new with less than 50k on odometer. I hear all
> the fire horrors about fires. In what order  shall I start replacing
> parts
> of fuel system not to end up in fire statistic?
>
> Thanks,   Ark
>
>