problem solved

 :wink:      

well you lot! after a few trips to the mechanic, a load of head scratching, 12 months and various new electrical components later-

had intermittent running problems for a while, misfiring ect. my mechanic thought it was a problem with electrics as fuel pressure okay and injectors. he's been on and off trying to sort it for a good while.

co-incidentally i'd had new fuel lines fitted full length of car and had found a problem with the replacement pipes fitting the accumulator. so at the weekend i set about righting the wrongs.

put new accumulator on and crazyquiffs finest replacement pipes and took off the fuel pump (to replace it too but didn't need to) and discovered a tiny thimble sized mesh filter. popped it out and you couldn't see through it for c7 P !

cleaned it out flushed through wi petrol stuck it all back on and…………….


THE DIFFERENCE WAS AMAZING! after about 12 months of getting more and more frustrated and dissapointed at our baby letting us down and getting burnt off at lights by everything including pedestrians. (even i was considering crafting a for sale sign, let alone the missus) and now she is back! 1.8litres of beast. it's like a different car. and with all the electrical engine components fettled along the way i'd say she runs better than i've ever known!

why oh why oh why did it take nearly a year to realise?

so each service you change the big silver fuel filter under the bonnet and think your doing your bit and all along there's a secret little one collecting gunge and making your car poorly.  i'd certainly reccommend anyone with misfiring or loss of power when accelerating to go out and do it now!

maybe this little filter is commonly known and cleaned by you all every day and i'm just thick, but at least i'm happy!

 
mark

GOOD ONE  :clap: :clap: :clap:

That's worth remembering !!!!
Now get out there and ENJOY it !!!

woo hoo i'm on a mission to tell the world. hallelluyah!

Well done mark.

This is the little gauze filter in the nose of the fuel pump right?

A fuel delivery test should have identified that one.  Good point though to clean regularly but - WARNING - make sure you disconnect the wires before undoing the banjo nut on the pump and it is quite possible that the pipe will be seized or break when undoing - make sure you have a spare (I would say that wouldn't I   ) or you don't need the car urgently.

Glad the pipes fitted well - give me a shout if anyone needs new ones.

Cheers

Rich

yeah cheers i'm diggin' your pipes!

as far as i remember the filter was on the inlet tank side of the pump and yes it was a little gauze thang? and the fuel pressure test never picked it up. (measuring jug/stopwatch etc?) the problem had been intermittent too presumably depending on how much of the gauze was clogged when the crud settled differently across its surface?

ah well alls well

m

Well - This would certainly cause fuel starvation and the symptoms I have if it was to get severley clogged!
I'll be checking this out this weekend with me fingers and toes on both hands and feet crossed (though this might prove problematic when trying to use a spanner! 8O )

al_mk1

i'll have mine crossed for you. good luck dude


mark

This little gauze thing…. is it actually seated in the fuel pump where the pipe from the tank goes?

I've just replaced the pump and don't remember seeing any gauze  :dontknow:

hope this solves your problems though Al

I think the gauze is in the banjo stud that holds the pump to accum pipe to the pump.

git - you got a pic???

soz no!

rather embarrassingly as a photographer by trade i took none. to be honest i didn't think it all that significant till i drove away and pondered.

from memory it is in the stubby pipe sticking out from the pump that connects to the pipe from the tank. its shaped like a thimble and has gauze all the way round and sits into the pump.

hope this helps.

mark

I'm sure I remember seeing this when I replaced the pump about 14 months ago… I'll see on Sat anyway!

another one fixed!

dudes i'm glad to say after fixing all the git's misfiring/running problems by cleaning out the 'top secret filter' in the 'in pipe' of the fuel pump.

i departed the information to friend of mine who had similar running problems with his 1.8carb clipper cab, with a simmilar deal with his head scratching indi vw mechanic.

he was near to selling. worse than mine he kept stalling doing 80 on the mway and had to keep below 30ish for there to be apparently enough fuel to keep it going!

so he told his mechanic to look for any suplimentary filters in his supply line and ta raa…. he found one- cleaned it out and guess what… yup…. fixed.


seems to me these little vw filters are evil and should be tracked down and given a good seeing to.

seems well daft to me to have a 'teeny insignificant' filter before the 'large shiny' main fuel filter under the bonnet that everyone changes regularly.

HUNT IT DOWN-CLEAN IT OUT!

mark

git said

seems to me these little vw filters are evil and should be tracked down and given a good seeing to

Apparently they aren't there on the original pumps as fitted by VW in the factory. My mate tells me that they are only there on replacement pumps? :dontknow:  I know mine was a pierburg replacement cos I only put it on 14 mnths ago!

….just imagine all that crud getting into the pump - doesn't bear thinking about !!!!

hi guys

ive never had any dealings with the fuel pump before so im not sure if this is going to sound really stupid but..

do you have to drain the tank to take the pump off to clean the filter and if so how?
is there a drain plug like the sump?

Cheers
Steve

Hey moreno I was going to ask exactly same question so you're not stupid (or we both are ops: 0. Yes can someone talk us through step by step in idiot speak how to get to the filter thing (safely) and check it out? Cheers

your probably not the daft one- i am- 'cos when i took the fuel pump off there was a ton of petrol p155ing out onto the floor! it's not under pressure but it certainly pours out!

i had a mate helping and we took a 'peter and the dyke' approach to it by wedging a finger up the pipe that comes from the tank to the pump ops:

if i have time tomorrow i'll post a longer explanation!

mark

what we did:

(disclaimer: not necessarily the right way!)

1 find pump- under car, in front of rear wheel driver's side
2 disconnect wiring and secure wiring with insulating tape so as not to cause a spark (?neg first-check)
3 using a large clean dry PLASTIC washing up bowl underneath: undo jubilee/fuel clip from the pipe at the rear of the pump (ie not the one with the big bolt and banjo connector on the same side as the electrical connectors) might also be advised to have a new same size clip to put back on if your old one is rusty and breaks!
4 at this point a considerable amount of petrol will pour out, it may be advised to do this when the petrol guage is in the red, (making sure you have 2 gallons of petrol ready to put in in case you happen to empty the tank in the process. (not that we did))
5 using a 'chubby' mates finger stem the flow of petrol from the pipe you have disconnected that comes from the tank. this will be apparrent as LOTS of petrol will be pouring out.
6 when you have stopped panic-ing about all the petrol on the floor/hopefully in the bowl (as i did) you may calmly remove the little plasic filter (shaped like a mesh thimble) that is slotted into the stubby pipe at the rear of the pump
7 tap out the crud and rinse in a small pot of petrol.
8 then put filter back in and reassemble!

EASY!ISH! please bear in mind though. i am a complete mook and the only real part i played in doing this to my car was as a supporting role as the chubby finger/dicovering and cleaning the cruddy filter! it was my mate sam who i trust with my broken car who did all the real work and provided assurance as the petrol pee-ed out that we weren't going to die! i am sure if there's a better way of doing it, or i did something wrong someone will hopefully correct me.

seriously though it was pretty easy even for a mook like me. bizarrly, in addition, there is little if no mention of fuel pump monkey-ing in any of my haynes manuals! and finally i cannot emphasise the remarkable difference it made to the poor running of my car and also my mate dd's carb-cabriolet (his pump was in a different place though but same principle)

hope this helps-any further info just ask!

cheers
mark/git

Ha-ha-ha….

"Chubby finger"…

Clamp the pipe you spanners!

The rubber pipe that comes out of the tank and connects to the pump - Clamp it with a mole grips, or if you dont have one, a pliers held closed with a large cable tie!  :mrgreen:

ops:  nair mind it worked for me!

git