Fuel Crisis!

So it's mid August and I'd organised a long weekends surfing trip in Devon. I was really excited, both because I was looking forward to surfing but also this was to be my first time actually sleeping in the Splitty.

With this 200 odd mile journey in mind, I thought it prudent take it out for a little trip the weekend before. As I hadn't driven the van for a couple of weeks I thought I'd give it a quick once over, and start it up before the trip the next day. After a basic service check, I tried to start it up. This is when my pain began.

After getting past the normal first couple of tries to get the engine to fire up, I started to panic...Another few minutes of intermittent turning and I was having to face up to admitting there was a problem.

Cautiously I moved round to the back of the van to look at the engine. I began to diagnose the problem, starting with the basics - I checked all the HT leads were properly connected, then whipped one out, and with my sister cranking it over, tested it by earthing it against the block - All the tests were a success. Looking at the base of the spark plug, and given the amount of times I'd cranked it over, I expected there to be more of a fuel aroma coming from there. Suspicious I though...

This therefore led me to the fuel system. An inspection of the fuel filter revealed that it had fallen to pieces internally. This brought happiness to my life, as I thought I'd found the problem, and I knew I had a spare fuel filter. Once I'd removed the old one, I put the new one on. It was then I noticed there was no marking to tell me which way the filter should go. This was frustrating, very frustrating. After some internet research, and logical thinking, I eventually worked out it should be mounted with filter end nearest the carbs.

I confidently moved round to the front of the Splitty to try to start it again. Sadly, the result was the same. Back round at the engine, I checked the fuel filter, it had fuel in it, and it still wasn't starting. My annoyance level was increasing, rapidly.

Moving along the fuel route, I got to the carbs (dual Weber 34's) and tried to see if fuel was going in. Apparently it's very tight above the carbs, and I couldn't see into them, even with the use of a small mirror. So, to test my theory out, I got some petrol, and poured it down each of the carbs. I then tried the ignition again, and hey presto, it started. So, I decided to bite the bullet and take the carbs off to inspect them.

Once I'd worked out how to remove the linkage, and how to get my spanner on the carb to manifold nut the carbs were sitting in a bucket in my front room (Classy, huh?). Fortunately, I used to own a Nova Sport, now if you're in the know about Nova's then you'll know that the Sport came with Weber Twin 40's as standard. The experience of owning, and pretty much constantly tweaking and rebuilding these (Having read Dave Walker's very good Engine Management: Optimising Carburettors, Fuel Injection and Ignition Systems book) set me in good stead for a quick evening strip down, check over and rebuild. Initially things looked promising, I don't think I've ever seen that much crap in a float chamber ever, so this seemed to be an obvious fueling prevention issue! Carb cleaner was then applied and every jet and orifice was then cleaned out thoroughly.

Poor photo of late night carb cleaning part 1

Poor photo of late night carb cleaning part deux

Now that I was happy that the carbs were working properly, I put them back on, being careful not to thread any of the linkage bolts (this will come back to haunt me, like things always seem to). Would it start, would it hell! I was almost at the end of my tether here, until I looked over at the fuel filter. It hadn't filled up much from before, this made me more suspicious than that woman from Murder She Wrote. Testing all the various pipes I found that hardly anything was getting past the filter. This led me to the fuel pump. Having taken the hoses off this, I discovered that the pump was hardly pushing out any fuel at all! Bingo! Offending item identified!

It was late now, so first thing Saturday morning I popped down to GSF over in Feltham and once I'd found someone that knew about aircooled VW engines, we worked out what engine the pump was off (apparently it's a c1976 Beetle engine, I had never been quite sure on this before) I had a shiny new one ready to go straight back. I rushed home, fitted it, checked all the hoses twice, and turned the ignition key...After a few pumps, the engine burst back into life! Suffice it to say I was very happy! Moral of the blog - Even if the fuel pump looks like it's working, it still might not be working properly!

So the van made it to Devon successfully, but I am going to look into re routing some of the hoses, and start to renew some of them, just to be on the safe side.


Previous Blogs From Jon Ladley:


Split Screen Desire - The road to true love is never easy


Vans in the News and 19 Windows


My 27th Birthday and an AA Recovery "Low" Loader


Pushing the button...


Too low?


Welding woes


A Very Tight Squeeze