Hi Folks,

I've got an '86 Westy with a 2.1 waterboxer.  I've been having no end of
fun trying to diagnose a fuel supply problem and I'm baffled.  I've
searched the archives and tried lots of different things but, although some
things improved the situation, I still haven't found a permanent solution.

The key symptom throughout has been a noisy fuel pump which gets very loud
and sounds like a stuck pig when the situation gets bad enough that the
engine dies.  That doesn't happen until after I've driven it 5-10 miles.
After driving say 3 miles, it's whining and after 5 or more, it is starting
to die on acceleration, idle is okay for a while but eventually it will
stall.

It's weird -- I'll be tootling along a 50kmh (30mph) and then no power, the
tach drops back to 850.  A short while (say 3-10 seconds), the tach will
take off and I've got power again.  It repeatedly does this except that the
intervals between the losses of power decrease until ultimately the engine
will simply not start and the fuel pump is screaming and growling when I
try to start it.

I've got an '86 tintop with a 2.1 engine that I parked a couple of years
ago rather than repairing a serious coolant leak in one of the heads.  I
swapped most of the Digifant components out of it and into my '87 (AFM,
throttle, idle control valve and fuel pressure regulator).  Replaced the
plugs, checked the timing.  Replaced the fuel filter.  Nothing made much
difference.

Did a fuel flow test and I'm getting about 750 ml in 30 seconds, Bentley
says 500ml is good.

I first suspected rust from the fuel tank, so I pulled it off and cleaned
it out.  Not rusty but the gas obviously had water in it.  Discovered that
one of the plastic expansion tanks had a crack in it and the grommet around
the valve at the top was shot; water was entering easily during our current
rainy season here in Victoria.  So I patched all of that up yesterday and
have new grommets on order.

Today is warm and dry.  Took it for a run and to pick up a fuel pressure
gauge.  It was about a 15 mile run, started out much better although the
fuel pump still whined though less so.  Just barely got home, it was
starting the loss of power cycle again.

Tried out the fuel pressure gauge.   At the fuel pressure test screw, I'm
getting around 100psi! (the guage only goes up to about 70).  Pressure is
not affected by pulling the vacuum hose off of the pressure regulator,
though the idle speed picks up slightly.  The Bentley says it should be
29-36psi, depending on whether the vacuum hose is attached.
Pressure at the return hose is the same -- around 100psi.  After shutting
the engine off, it takes a long time for the pressure to even begin to
decline.

I suspected a blockage in the return line, but although it is has at times
seemed hard to blow through, today it was fine and I could easily blow air
into the tank.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on?

Thanks, Rick

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