I took some time today to work on my newest VW, a 1981 Vanagon.  The guy that "gave" it to me said that he never tried to start it, and he had it for several years.  There is spark at the plugs, the compression checks came to about the same, around 95 lbs. in each cylinder.  The fuel, I do believe, is not getting to the engine.  It actually ran for a few seconds today with the help of some starter fluid. :wow: When the fluid was burnt up, it quit though. :3dmad:

Long story shorter...I took off the fuel pump and there is some black sludge dripping out of the pump, and the gas smells awful (OT question-where can I take unwanted gasoline?).  I think the pump is working, but just clogged up with this black goo.  

Does anyone know about electric fuel pumps and if I can clean it out and test it on a bench?  Does it run continually while engine is running?     :3dconfused:

If it's like every other fuel injected engine with an electric fuel pump that I've worked on, it should run anytime the switch is turned on . . . the system has to be under pressure before the engine will ever run.

I had some fuel injectors on my daughter's Eagle Summit clog up from sitting over a year.  I couldn't figure out what the problem was, but I thought it wasn't getting fuel . . . there was fuel getting to the injectors, but I didn't think it was getting past them.  So, just to see if it was a lack of fuel I removed the hose from the breather, turned it upward and had my daughter crank it over while I dripped gas from a gas can into the intake -- WARNING! DON'T EVER DO THIS!!! -- that's what the problem was.  As soon as it got fuel, it fired up . . . then it backfired and the intake hose turned into a flame thrower and I was holding a two gallon can of gasoline over it.  Luckily I got rid of the gas can in a hurry and we got the fire in the intake out before any damage was done, and the car would start up and run on one cylinder when we were through.  I guess the fire cleaned out the #1 injector.  I pulled the other 3 out and sure enough they were clogged with a black gooey substance.  I dug at the goo with a straighened paper clip & sprayed carborator cleaner in it for about 10 minutes on each injector and reinstalled them.  I added two cans of fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank and tried it again . . . and caught the car on fire again!  I must have shoved one of the injectors in crooked and cut the o-ring because it had sprayed gas all over the engine . . . luckily, I got that fire out before any major damage was done!  Anyway, after putting a new set of o-rings in, it fired up . . . it sputtered for several minutes but finally cleared up.

So, you can soak it in gas and set it on fire . . . if it survives the fire the goo might be gone (Don't do this either, that was meant as a joke!) or try digging out all the goo you can get to and use carb cleaner and an air hose to try to get the rest.

As for what to do with the old gas . . . it makes great fire ant killer!  Just make sure the EPA isn't around!  (another joke, don't do that either!)  Ask at one of the parts stores that recycles oil.  Maybe they can dump it in their oil drum if there isn't a lot of it.

I don't know anything about the mechanics of what makes everything work but we have just had this same type problem with the DeLoren we inherited.  My brother had already taken it over to R & R Electric over in N.Chattanooga to have it fixed and I while I was talking with Ray Farmer(owner) about our car I asked him a little about this problem.  He told me about a machine that he can run it thru that cleans out all of the hoses and everything.  It costs $80.00 for the 1st pass thru(includes the cleaner stuff) and then $60.00 if you need it done again.  He suggested taking off and cleaning out the gas tank and hoses real good first though and you might be able to get away with just adding the stuff in the gas tank after its cleaned out.  If you want to give him a call his number is 267-4291. This was an expensive fix for this car because it had set for so long and had lots of rust built up in it and also the parts were so hard to get. Good Luck!

oh yeah...

ZEN WILL KNOW! as usual.

i think zen needs a job in the vw world.

:wow: The thing I don't understand is why people think I know something about mechanicing even after I tell them about setting the same car on fire twice before getting it going . . .  :lookaround:

Think of me more as a reminder of what NOT to do than a source of correct procedures . . . there's no need for all of us to loose our eyebrows!   :alien: