yes.. definitely to have a spare pump..

I had my share of same story but without the spare pump...

:-)

On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 2:44 PM, david hardy <david@planetmind.net> wrote:

> Just wanted to pass along a little advice to anyone doing long trips to
> remote places in a
> Vanagon...Last week we were about halfway through a 1200 mile trip through
> Colorado and Utah -
> just south of Natural Bridges National Monument on Rt 261, to be exact.
> The Westy was running
> great, not even a hiccup...when it suddenly wouldn't accelerate. I just
> couldn't get the engine
> to rev. Coasted to a turn-off - middle of nowhere, of course - where it
> just died. I know my way
> around the wasserboxer pretty well, so I got underneath and felt/listened
> for the fuel pump
> while the wife turned the ignition on/off - sure enough, it wasn't coming
> on - then it did, but
> just made a sick, gurgly buzz. About 20 or so years ago, I had pulled the
> fuel pump off an old
> fuel-injected Type II bus I was parting out, figuring "someday this is
> gonna save my butt", and
> sure enough... So 15 minutes later we were back on the road, cruising
> through some of the most
> amazing - and desolate - terrain in the country.
>
> Moral of the story: carry a spare fuel pump, and learn how to replace it
> (it's easy). You can
> get an after-market one for $50 on ebay - but you'll be waiting at least a
> couple days (and pay
> many times that) for a parts store to get one in most places. Another good
> spare to carry is a
> distributor, since it can also strand you (and also easy to replace).
> Those are a little
> pricier, though.
>
> David
> --
>