Is that pressure reading under load or not? With a properly working
regulator and vacuum connection to the manifold the pressure is affected by
engine vacuum. At idle you can disconnect the vacuum hose and you should see
the pressure go up to the set pressure. Next test is to load the engine and
see if the pressure remains constant. Unlike some other pumps for the most
part the vanagon pump either works or it doesn't. Rarely will a delivery
problem be the pump itself. A clogged inlet (including inside the pump hose
connection) or the tank itself is the problem.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2012 11:42 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Double checking my stumbling problem

Fore several weeks I've been chipping away at a poor running 2.1. I've
swapped out this and that, and to me it acts like a bad fuel pump that
delivers enough pressure to start and idle but not keep up with the demands
of acceleration, hills, etc. And it's getting worse.

I was finally in town long enough to put a pressure gauge on the system and
I see it measures 27 psi. The Bentley says that 30 to 36 is normal range. I
know somebody is going to say "well, if that's what it says..." but I wanted
to hear from more experienced mechanics before I ordered a fuel pump. I have
been burned before on this. I invested a year of troubleshooting and lots of
money in a 2.1 that behaved similarly before I fixed the problem. I don't
want to go through that again.

If anyone with experience says "mine's lower than that and it runs fine"
then I will keep looking. If the consensus is that it just won't operate on
27 psi, I'll order a pump.

thanks,

Jim