Give me strength!

[Shaggy]

Van broke down, first time ever, I went shopping to a well known supermarket, then started driving home, then the van starts to shudder, petrol abit low so I think ok I will put some in maybe my fuel gage is a liar or something, so that works NICE! want to blow my tyres up so get some TNT strap it to it...haha no only joking...hehe have to drive to find somewhere to pump them up, vans still running fine find a place pump her up, van don't start, NOTHING, mess around for a bit, then ring RAC he mess around for a bit, find out fuel is milky, so he said I prob need new fuel pump as its not pulling or pushing (what ever it does) anything through, and also a petrol tank ARRRGGGGHHHHH! its been dropped off at the garage gonna pop in tomorrow and see whats what.

Any ideas from you guys would be a great help

Everything seems to go wrong at the moment, but I cant help but love her.

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Well, you may need a new pump if it's not, well, pumping! But I'd be more concerned about the milky fuel - might be worth checking your filler neck to ensure you're not getting water in the fuel (I certainly wouldn't assume you need a new tank just yet!).

 

[Shaggy]

Thats what I was thinking, I will be down the garage tomorrow chatting to them, just got a phone call from my dad telling me don't worry about money he will pay, I feel abit rubbish, im 26 and my dad is paying to fix my van, im just so frustrated you wouldn't believe, we are meant to be going to ilfracombe this weekend, but first holiday all year and I really need it.

 

[Araon]

Now I suspect mr RAC is getting you quickly off his books as its not a profitable job...

Sounds very much like water in the tank, drain the fuel or at least a good portion of it (stick some in a glass and see if they seperate) add meths to the tank (its an old trick I havent used in some time) a couple of capfulls and some more clean petrol try to get it sloshed about it may take a little starting but once running the meths should drag the water from the tank and out the exhaust...

 

[Shaggy]

Araon I think your becoming my God

 

[Araon]

The fuel pump is a simple mechanical device (unless you've fitted an electric number), put a balloon onto the tank side and turn the engine over you should see it suck what air is in there out.

Most peoples tanks could do with renovating and de-sludging so there may be an element of that, do you have a filter in line?

 

[Shaggy]

I do now, re put one on but it wasn't sucking any fuel through.

 

[Araon]

was it not sucking or was the tank not supplying? its gravity fed through the filter...
The good news is the pump is a doddle to work on and parts are readily available....

 

[Shaggy]

Well if I took the pipe off the pump it would come out so I am guessing the tank is suppling, but if I put it on the pump it wasn't going through the filter does that help?

 

[Araon]

Theres nothing to the pump a push rod runs off a cam (Dizzy I think), on the downstroke it pulls on a diaphram drawing fuel from the tank on the up it pushes fuel out to the carb,
1 if the carb is full it stops drawing fuel
2 there is a filter in the pump that may have blocked
3 the diaphram may be damaged
4 the carb jets may be blocked thus the float chamber is full see #1

both the float chamber and pump are easy fixes remove and clean/inspect.

I remember buying my first road legal bike cheap because of a similar problem the banjo filter in the carb was blocked 20 minutes cleaning, fired up lovely.

 

[Shaggy]

I thought thats how the pump worked, I love VW's simple ideas
anyway, I was thinking the carb, but how about this, I did get it to fire up once had to keep the revs high, as soon as they dropped it cut out, then nothing again.

One thing about all of this, I do get to learn more

 

[Araon]

Could well be a simple case of fuel starvation by the sounds of it.

VWs' gotta love em pure engineering in its simplest form (most of the time).

always worth a quick look get to see how it fits together, you aint gonna do it any harm , if it is sludge from the tank you'll need to see about flushing it out.

Good luck

Where abouts are you?

 

[Shaggy]

Im in northampton
Im gonna have a play tomorrow and let you know, that you for all your help AGAIN, maybe one day I will be able to help you

Now my dad has said he would pay to get it fixed, its not so much of a problem

 

[sweat69]

I have a nearly new fuel pump if you need it If that helps :lol: .
Any how good luck mate :wink: .

 

[Mike F]

Haven't read it yet but the latest Camper & Commercial, or whatever the better non-Volksworld mag is called, has some stuff on sorting fuel tanks out. I need to read this as I rely on an in-line fuel filter to take the crap out. I had a ride back from Wales with the AA when the carb got blocked a couple of years ago - worth putting one in I'd say (in the right place though just in case fuel leaks - not over anything hot).

 

[Shaggy]

Thank you Sweat69 I will let you know
and Mike F I might have to go and get that, I need to get it done before the weekend otherwise I won't be getting my only holiday of the year, I have today to try and get it sorted and the afternoons, as I am ill off work :wink:

May the force be with me

 

[Mike F]

Don't forget Camper & Commercial is subscription only...

http://www.volkswagencamper.co.uk/

 

[Shaggy]

Really, bugger, I'm sure I bought it once in a shop, but that was a while ago. Oh well I will leave that and go with make it up as I go along

 

[Shaggy]

ITS DONE ITS DONE ITS DONE IT WORKS IT WORKS IT WORKS IT WORKS

Just it case you haven't worked it out I have fixed my van, got everything out of the tank, bit of a clean, put it all back together, the only thing is I can't work out why I had water in my tank, everything seems almost perfect, but hey lets see how it goes.

But this means I can now go on my first camping trip in my van and my first holiday of the year to ilfracombe

Thank you, everyone for you help, and special thanks goes to Araon and Mike F

 

[Justin & Muttley]

Glad you got it sorted - enjoy your holiday!!!