Van Stopped and wont start.....

[totallyconfused]

Hi - my van (petrol 1981 air cooled) stopped. it seemed like it was out of petrol, spluttered a bit and then died. Fuel guage said it was low. Went to garage and got some more pertol. Put it in but still wont start. Turning over fine but will not fire.

checked the fuel line to the pump and there was no petrol. Went back to pipe at bottom of tank and there was some (poured all over my arm and sleeve and now stink of petrol).

Does this mean the fuel pump is knackered? is there a way to check? Do you have to prime the pump in order for it to work/suck petrol through?

I have looked on Wiki but could not find anything. Haynes manual only has manual pumps, which i do not think mine is.

Cheers - Christian.

[aardvark]

Not sure if this will help, mines water cooled. The same thing happened to me after an 1100 mile round trip,drove fine, put on driveway, week later wouldnt start. Filters were new checked them and on advice from ROB removed one that seemed to be superfluous,tried more fuel, put some straight into carb and worked for a couple of seconds. Dismantled pump, on mine its a sealed unit, cam and little bolt with conical end all seemed fine, tried one from an old beetle condition unknown just to see if it would draw fuel....no joy so replaced with electric pump from ebay 2-4psi 32 sqid inc postage, worked a treat and fuel comes up instantly.............a bit noisy but with a few rubber washers is now hardly audible. Took for a run today and going like a rocket. Hope this helps

[totallyconfused]

Aardvark, Thanks for that sounds like i may end up doing the same.

I would still like to know if there is a way to test the pump - Does any one know a way?

Thanks - Christian.

[totallyconfused]

I thought of a way to test the pump and simply got a jam jar of petrol and then ran a length of pipe directly to the fuel pump inlet and then turned the engine over - hey presto petrol shot out of the carb pipe (I had already disconnected it)

I reconnected the pipe and got the van to start. (Solex 34-Pict 4 carb). However, only ran whilst choke was on and then when it went to idle cut out. Van will start and run if hold foot down, but once it gets to idle engine cuts out.

I then thought maybe the carb jets were blocked/clogged. I spilt the carb and cleaned the main jet and the air correction jet. There was some dirt in the bottom of the reservoir so cleaned this out. The fuel needle valve was a bit sticky, so played with this and freed it up. Reassembled the carb.

With fingers crossed tried again. The same thing happened. Engine will start but not run at idle!!!

Any ideas what to try next?

1) could it be fuel pump is not working well enough?

2) Are there any other jets - carb things to check.

3) could it be something else besides the carb (Idle regulator maybe?)

all help much appreciated - Chris.