Zeno has been at Don Satnik’s Shop since Tuesday and in that time we’ve been able to confirm the following. First, the diesel fuel pump has a leak which is allowing fuel to escape the pump before it is pushed into the injectors. The amount of fuel isn’t much, but it was one of the things that concerned me greatly on the drive up from California. I knew that the fuel pump was the cause of the leak, but couldn’t locate the source. Thus I asked Don to take a look and sure enough he was able to isolate the problem.
Resolution of leaky fuel pump proved slightly more difficult than identification. But that said I need to thank everyone on the [Diesel-Vanagon] list serve for their help. I ended up getting the referral I’m acting upon through the list and while everyone I called for the part was helpful Jack from VW Diesel Parts is getting the business specifically because of the recommendations sent regarding the quality of work. Price appears to be the same just about anywhere you look. The re-conditioned fuel pump core is being taken care of as I write and I expect its arrival late this week or sometime early next.
The second problem was a lot more obvious. The transmission routinely pops out of 4th gear while traveling down the road. By the time I made it back from southern California I think the muscles of right shoulder and neck were about ready to file for divorce. The recommendation for a rebuilt DX model transmission came through Vanagon Mailing List and Daryl from AA Transaxle called this afternoon to let me know that the rebuilt transmission is done. I’ll be picking it up Friday.
There may be some work that remains on the shift box when all this is complete. The shift level is sloppy and it took me a good week to be able to find reverse consistently. This may be caused by one of two things. Either the nylon parts in the shift box are worn or scared or the transmission that’s in there today is just that bad. Either way, it won’t do anyone any good at this point to replace the parts in the shift box so this will wait for diagnosis until after the replacement transmission is in.
Finally, I’ve ordered parts to replace the timing belt so I can reset the clock on this collection of parts now and avoid roadside repairs in the near future.
