timing 1.6L vanagon

[Fatmobile]

Air bubbles moving along while it's cranking? Entering the pump and not flowing back to the tank when you stop cranking?
There will be a few bubbles for awhile after first priming it. They get sent back to the tank in the same place the pickup is so it sucks some air in and returns it to the engine bay.

I also talked to a mechanic and he said whatt he does is bleed the filter by opening the vent screw on top and cranking till just fuel comes out.

I don't know if the vanagon has a pump in the tank,... but that wouldn't work on a Rabbit.
It would just suck air in.

Are you smelling any diesel from the exhaust while cranking?
If you aren't flooring it, it could take quite awhile for the injector lines and injectors to fill,.. not much fuel flowing at idle,.. even less at cranking speed.
I forgot,.. did you have a clear piece of line going from the filter to the pump? Is there air in that line?
If there is no air going into the pump but air coming out of the pump,.. that could mean a bad mainshaft seal on the pump.

[bc]

There's definately not a pump in the tank.
I'm also working alone so I can't smell the exhaust. I don't notice any smell of diesel in my garage.
The line from the filter to the pump is prob. original and I can't see through it at all. I filled the filter with diesel fuel.
It looks like the fuel system is primed up to the pump. The air in the line between the pump and tank appears to move when cranking but for some reason it won't fire at all. I used another mechanics suggestion which was to pressurize the fuel tank with air while cranking the engine. That seems to have pushed most air out.
This whole project started with a leaky cold start seal which I replaced. It ran fine before disassembly. So even if the pump timing is slightly off, it should atleast try to fire, right?
bc

[Fatmobile]

A clear fuel line between the filter and pump is important.
With it the problem could be obvious.

[bc]

So I know my fuel system is primed and ready for action. But the engine still will not fire. It doesen't even try. The battery starts to die while cranking. Is this injection timing issue? Or glow plugs?
bc

[stopping]

I don't know what is going on there but I will try to eliminate some things.

-For the purposes of starting it after prime.... If the engine temp is below room temp. use the cold start to help it ignite.

-No block heater? What are you crazy? To a Canuck that is strange but not unheard of.... this past weekend I borrowed a friend's TD Jetta with no block heater and of coarse the temp dropped to -35C (close to -40F)! I had to pile snow around the skirt of the car and the front wheels and put 15 tea light candles under the oil pan. I went skiing for an hour and a half and she started without a hesitation. So maybe if it is a bit cold in your garage now you could put a space heated in there, near the engine for a few hours and heat it up.

-You must hold the throttle open all the way the whole time you are cranking. I don't if you have been doing this since you have not mentioned it yourself..

-The battery must be good. (Not to mention the wires, not too long not too skimpy) The speed at which the engine turns is important compression and thereby to ignition.

-I don't think you have fuel at the injectors yet. If that is true it will not start. The smell of the semi-spent diesel is obvious esp. in an enclosed space.

-yes check your glow plugs but you should be able to start it with out the glows if it is at room temp.

-maybe you timing is way off.... but sounds like you should eliminate the air in your system and learn how go from A to B before going back to check for mistakes. If the valves are not hitting the pistons (able to turn) I am pretty sure it will start.

[stopping]

Oh did you remove the pump pulley? If so are you sure the key is in and the pulley is "timed" with the pump?

[bc]

Should this van have had a block heater? Cause there definatley aint one on there.
I took the pump off to replace a leaky cold start seal. I'm positive my crank and cam are timed right. And the key in the IP sprocket is in place. I'm not totally sure the pumo is timed right. The fuel system seems to be primed. I pressurized the tank with compressed air while cranking the engine over.
Battery is good. (except for killing t trying to start it.)
Glow plugs are new.
So shouldn't it atleast try to fire even if my pump timing is off? I have a dial gauge but i'm not sure how to use it. It measures in inches. I bought it from dieselvw.com. should've bought it from jack. Atleast it comes with a book or something.

[stopping]

If you don't leave the injector lines loose and crank until they leak fuel it will not fire.

Is there 12V on the cut-off solenoid?

[bc]

So I finally got my vanagon running. Couple strange things though. I have all clear fuel lines, so I can see if there's air or not. There is solid fuel between the filter and pump. But when I drive it and warm it up it doesn't get all the air out of the return lines. It runs and drives good, but also won't start again after shutting the engine off. Should't it purge the air out after a few mins? Does this sound like air in the system preventing it from restarting?

[Josh]

Is there also solid fuel (no bubbles) in the return line?

This is a strange one if so. Other people have had gradually worsening problems relating to worn inj pump, where the fuel over time drains back to the tank. If you can see that this isn't what's happening because the return line shows no signs of bubbles, and there's no other leaks, then you've got me stumped. The vane pump must be working well enough to pull fuel from the tank when the engine is running if you can start it and have it run fine.

[bc]

There is air in the small loopy return lines but the 1/4" lines between the filter and pump and again between the pump and tank are all solid fuel. So just the small 1/8" return lines. You can see when it's running, the fuel sort of going around the bubble. The van runs good but just won't start after it's warmed up. Hmmmmmm???

[libbybapa]

There isn't enough flow through the small return lines to pull the air from the high spots. As you said, the fuel just flows around the bubbles and the bubbles stay in place. This is not a problem.

Andrew

[bc]

Hey Andrew,
Sounds like I'm on my way to actually driving this thing. Do you have any thoghts though on why it won't start after it's warmed up?
bc

[stopping]

I think your/ my starter is less strong when it's warm... it sounds crazy but I have noticed the starter seems to draw more after the starter is warm. For a while I had my battery under the front seat (with a long 00 wire) not knowing how bad that is... seemed obvious to me what the trouble with the starter was. When it warm it's slow when it's cold it's strong.

I moved the battery to under the back bench... very close to the starter.

Where is your battery?

[bc]

Hey Steve,
My battery is in the engine compartment on the right. Now it just won't start at all. I'm thinking it may be the injection pump. Might need to be rebuilt.
bc