[VB] Diagnosing bad fuel pump

[claralw at aol.com]

If you are going to remove the petcock, first drain the tank by removing the hose into the fuel pump and directing it into your favorite gas can.    It will not drain fast, so keep an eye on it, best to do this when you have a low tank.
After that has finished gravity draining out, there will still be some in the tank, but not to much. 
Disconnect the battery before draining gas from the tank.   Take the ground strap off the battery.  

 If you get a metal tool up by the petcock and spark the starter while there is gas around,  you may end up like Niki Lauda

If there is no guck in your fuel filter I would not think there is an issue with ick in the tank.




-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Guarnotta <kguarnotta at usa.net>
To: type2 <type2 at type2.com>; vintagebus <vintagebus at type2.com>
Sent: Tue, Oct 15, 2013 7:27 am
Subject: Re: [VB] Diagnosing bad fuel pump


I made it through the weekend voyage to NH. Not a far trip, about 2 hours.
Foliage this time of year, really nice up there. The bus was ok. I did have
some sputtering, and some trouble starting - so I can't tell if what I did
helped the problem, or if I still have the problem but it didn't rear its
ugly head this weekend. That is what I hate about intermittent problems.

 

Anyway - my next step will be to pull the petcock on the fuel tank. Any tips
on removing that? I am envisioning a whole bunch of gas pouring out after
taking it out. Are there seals in there that I'll need to replace?

 

Oh yeah  - some other things  I checked - after driving for a bit, I checked
the coil, it was not burning hot. That is good, right?

Dipstick passed the hand touch test after driving for a bit, i.e. it was not
too hot to hold. SO I think engine is not running too hot. 

I looked for a fuel pressure gauge at my FLAPS. The only one they had
appeared to be for measuring much higher pressures, i.e. The gauge was not
fine enough so that I'd be able to tell the difference between 3 PSI and 8
PSI. 

 

-Kevin Guarnotta

Jamaica Plain, MA

 

'78 Westy

'69 Singlecab

'65 Ez-camper

 

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