Former VWDieselParts.com Forum

Good job and that's great news. You may be able to get by fixing the hard lines if you undo the nut, blow off with compressed air the fittings to remove any debris that there may be, press down on the line to push it into the injector socket, then screw the nut down. Most people don't do this step, and it may pull the line down at a slight angle and a leak can develop.

For the return lines, I use the cheap vinyl lines that you get at the local auto parts store. It doesn't last as long as some lines, but at something like $.49 a foot, it's cheap enough and lasts a few years to redo occassionally. After all, these engines last so long, we do have to have a reason to open the hood on them from time to time, don't we?

I was thinking about cheap lines... but didn't know what most people did. The hard lines on top aren't leaking at all.
It is only 1 line (the #2 to D line) that is leaking and its leaking near the IP, a pretty good leak too. Drip Drip Drip
nice puddle under the car after i noticed it

You've got the clear vinyl supply line going to the IP, that's what I'd use for the return lines.

What's that coiled up hard line that looks like it's above the oil filter for? I'm not familiar with the 70's VW's.

The hard coil is for the vacuum pump, gets in the way a little trying to time the IP.

So i replaced the rest of the lines with clear tubing from the hardware store, zero leaks now.

Messing with the motor tonight it seems like there is a lot of air in system still or something.. almost looks like foam
at times. Especially the larger return line.

Also its not that cold out (50 deg's) but the car starts and runs a lot better with the Cold Start valve pulled, if i push it in
it seems to run decent but the idle is a lot higher with it pulled. Should i advance the pump timing more?

I haven't tried driving the car yet, and i can try to bleed the fuel system again to see if that helps.

Is there a filter in the tank on the pick up & maybe that's why the air bubbles?

.88 sounds low you will probably need to advance it. According to how you say it runs when cold.
Always use clear fuel lines, if they aren't metal.
The foam from the output of the pump, with none entering can indicate a bad mainshaft seal.

.88 +/- 5 is what I was going off from the Vince Waldon write up.

Is there a number I should try to shoot for or just do it a little at a time till
It sounds better & less use of the cold start?

Also.. Is there any tricks to getting to the bottom IP bolt?
I took the alternator off and the bracket to get to the bottom bolt when I took the pump out,
And timed it with it out. The top 2 bolts and the right side bracket bolt are easy to get to.

Just go from the belt side of the pump. Turn the pump until you can get a socket through one of the holes in the pulley.

You can hillbilly tune your IP. Advance the timing (by rotating the IP towards the head) until the engine diesel knock gets louder, then back off just a bit. You want to get the diesel noise where it sounds like marbles dancing on a plate, then back off just a bit. When you're done, there should be a slight difference in diesel knock when you pull out the cold start cable, but remember to push that in when you do your advancement. After you rotate the IP, loosen the hard injector lines and snug them up again to relax them from the twisting you did with the rotation of the IP. If you go too far, the diesel knock will get pretty loud. You'll figure it out.

Ok.. so i advanced the timing a little doing the Hillbilly method. I think it sounds pretty decent.
Still getting the bubbles or foam? coming out of the out side of the pump.
This pump was a rebuild unit from vwdieselparts.com so i hope nothing is wrong with it...

Since i advanced the timing now it seems to have a little lag if you rev it before it dips back down, I don't know
what would cause that. Thoughts?

Here is a video before starting it back up...
showing the lines to and from the pump
http://youtu.be/A-EfqH46rOY

Starting it up and showing some of the bubbles..
http://youtu.be/k3RV9paDKnc

This shows more of running and bubble from the IP..
http://youtu.be/gg_a8ccyL78

Thoughts? Sounds ok?

Sounds like it started hard, probably from all that air in the pump. Fix the air coming through the inlet line and the air going out the return line will probably go away.

Did you ever pull out the fuel pickup from the tank and inspect if that's all plugged up? Air's getting into the fuel line from somewhere.

I pulled the fuel sending unit to try and look for the filter but couldn't really see anything, I have put too much fuel in the tank.
Might have to try and drain some so i can try and see what i'm looking for.

I thought that seamed like way to much air in the system.

Hey guys

Latest progress, I replaced the line from the hard line to the filter, cracked the OUT bolt and filled the pump.
Checked the IN bolt and it was full so tightened both down.
I filled the filter through the OUT bolt to the top of the filter housing.
I then cracked all 4 of the hard lines on top of the injectors and cranked the motor and few times to make sure fuel was there.

That got me to this point! and she runs without air in the system.

http://youtu.be/uG7cQE47Z7g

Drove her out of the garage & around the block really quick.
image by PaulLehman, on Flickr

She smokes a little under acceleration, i don't know if that's from the timing being advanced too much or just normal.
Hoping to drive it a little more and work out any more bugs.

Good to hear it's running.
That air can be hard to track down.

This past weekend was Motoratadt in the Detroit area, I drove the rabbit over from Grand Rapids about 144 miles.. The car did great for most of the trip except for the last 5 miles as the trip home.

I thought I had air getting in my lines because I had the vinyl type lines.. The problem I was having is sputtering and losing power speed. Max was maybe 50mph. I stopped replaced the lines with 1/4 hose and clamps.. Made sure the pump was full and the filter. I got about maybe 10 mins if that of it running good them bam started again.

I guess idk where to start looking. I though maybe I punched a hard line or got a hole in one but they all look decent. But it appears that it's it's not pulling enough from the tank.

I tried replacing the lines again today, filled the IP & filter and bleed by the injector lines and same thing again.

I was so bummed to have this happen after it running so good.

Thoughts tips suggestions? Thinking that filter in the tank maybe?
The tank was full and only used 4 gallons on the trip over.