The Wheels on the Bus Should Go Round

Right Side

It’s unfortunate that eBay keeps asking me to review my purchase of Zeno right now. I knew there would be work that needed to be done on the vehicle before it was really going to be useful or even reliable. My frustration is, at this moment, focused entirely on the fuel pump.

Situation in a nut shell: engine runs reasonably well with leak in fuel pump, owner removes fuel pump sends it in for R&R work to fix leak, R&Red fuel pump is returned, installed, and timed per procedure. Engine now runs like crap when we can get it to start at all.

Don has tried working with VW Diesel Parts toward a solution, but I suspect that this avenue has dried up since the timing procedure recommended is what we’ve used. Don also mentioned to me yesterday that there is the possibility that air has been introduced to the fuel system and this may cause the pump to perform poorly. I know that he spent this afternoon troubleshooting the poor performance so my fingers are crossed that he’s got a solution.

If you’ve got experience with the 1.6 L + Turbo and can make suggestions I’m all ears. Photos are included below of the set-up as of Wednesday.

Top Down

To Filter

Fuel Pump Update

It arrived today and its been transfered to Don. Just a matter of time now and Zeno should be back at the homestead.

Woot!

R&R Engine Cover

So the transmission is in, no one is sure that it’s working yet because the fuel pump is still making its way around the country. I anticipate that I’ll soon start receiving photos of the fuel pump leaned near prominent land marks and tourist attractions around the world similar to the red hatted gnome in Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. Patience, yes patience is my new year’s resolution.

Fuel Pump

So ultimately I had to send the fuel pump from Zeno as well as the rebuilt fuel pump back to VW Diesel Parts in Ohio. It’s been rebuilt and should be on its way back as of today. Next up we’ll have to get it into the van and timed, but this action will have to wait until after it arrives.

Engine Cover

I’m almost finished with the engine cover, although there are still a few kinks to work out. Clean up took about two days and two cans of un-chlorinated break cleaning fluid to complete. Most of the Dynamat has been installed, although I’m going to go back over a couple of seems with the high temperature aluminum take to be sure that the cover is protected and remains clean.

Phase One

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 4^th 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.