I noticed today that my van has started sharing fluids with the road After investigation it appears to be diesel that's coming from under the fuel pump in a steady drip - you can see it at http://youtu.be/IlxKcSFwHaA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Any ideas? Of course it would be the one thing that i'm not confident in doing myself, due to the timing issues!
Not quite sure where I am looking there, but if that is under the cold start lever there is a seal on the shaft that can leak especially if the lever has been taken off in situ and hasn't gone back on fully home. Or it could just be worn.
Just watched it again - it is certainly pumping out lower down than the spill pipes but is further away from the cold start lever so it doesn't seem to be either of them. I had a leak from the cold start shaft seal but only got drips - yours looks as though it is on the pressurized side.
It looks to me more that it is coming from the join between the distribution head and the body which may be solved by tightening up the head bolts but more likely the seal has failed - there is high pressures in there and once the seal has gone the only way forward is seal replacement. Professional job if you haven't the skills/time to do it.
I would try to pin down further where it coming from although I know it isn't easy in there! I stick my camera in all sorts of corners and keep snapping away blind until I can see what is in there.
I have a spare pump in the workshop but it is under a mountain of heaters I think! I will have another look in a couple of days and see exactly what is there on the pump.
Thanks all - I know that metalmickey has a pump for sale which I might take him up on. The angle I shot at is basically between the pump and the head (you can see the fuel return pipe on there).
As mentioned on the first post, the fuel pump/timing is probably one of the only things that I'm not confident enough to do it myself so will probably take it to a garage (they can do the cambelt etc. while they're at it). Unless anyone else fancies giving me a hand that's around the North West? I wouldn't mind doing it if there was someone competent with pumps with me.
If your doing the pump, you might as well do the timing belt as well. Especially if you dont know when it was last done.. I reckon 3 +hours labour for pump and timing belt, depending how quick/slow they are.
A leaky pump doesn't always mean it needs replacing, could just need a few seals replacing which could be done is situ
I've just had a chat with a mate of mine who I just realised works at a garage round the corner! He's quoted me 3-4 hours for pump/belt tensioner (which i've actually just ordered from Brickwerks) so think i'll just go with that once i've got the pump.
Ended up being a much bigger issue because the mechanic I used buggered it up - ended up getting a replacement engine!
However, i've read since all this that it should be possible to loosen the distributor head and stretch the new seal over the head and into place (after removing the old one of course).
Just have to ensure that you don't actually undo the distributor head fully - I took mine apart after it all went titsup and it's a specialist job to put it back together!
Just to make sure that there is no ambiguity - although Steve at Gasure had sorted the timing on the old engine, i'm not referring him in my post just above. It was the mechanic (non VW specialist) that i'd originally gone to that buggered it up - definitely not Steve.
For reference, this is what i've just explained to Steve on PM...
'Basically, after finding out that the original mechanic that changed the pump had injector pipes 2/4 the wrong way round, absolutely nothing I did would get it going. I bought a replacement engine (which is now in, but not hooked up yet as i've torn my achilles tendon and can't walk or stand for long) and I was going to replace the glow plugs, which I knew were good in the old engine as i'd replaced them not long before the whole fuel pump issue. The plugs in cylinders 2 and 4 were basically destroyed so i'm assuming that something has happened internally to obliterate the plugs and that the remnants were floating around in the cylinder somewhere - possibly causing the non-starting issue.'
So - Steve is someone who I would wholeheartedly recommed!! He's a cracking guy and certainly does know his stuff - use him! I certainly wish i'd gone to him in the first place!
After investigation it appears to be diesel that's coming from under the fuel pump in a steady drip - you can see it at http://youtu.be/IlxKcSFwHaA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
