1980 Caddy project - now with vroooms

[76scirocco]

I wonder if you should just try blowing air through the lines coming up to the distributor. If you start putting air through the lines until you find the restirction you should be able to narrow it down. I can bring another fuel distributor with me when I come over. I can't make it this weekend, but I will have some time Monday or Tuesday evening if that would work.

[Mikewire]

Yea lol, very nice...all in good time. I want to get it fully drivable with the 1.8 JH that's in it for now, then focus on a swap, bodywork and paint.

Last night I took the fuel dizzy off, set it on the bench, and freed the plunger up - that thing was STUCK. With carb spray and vice grips I finally (carefully) ripped it outta there. After cleaning up the varnished gas it's smooth now, and the small needle bearing in the air box rolls now too.

Then I took off the pressure reg. and opened it up. There's not much I can do without completely disassembling the diaphragm and I didn't want to tear into it too far, so I sprayed it clean and hoped for the best...thinking the dizzy was the major problem.

Put it all back together, pulled an injector, jumped the pump, and no spray pattern Pulled the injector from the injector line, line in a bucket, lift air box plunger...fuel comes out, but at a low trickle nice. Ok, low pressure then?

Thinking my last resort is the pump, since I had a new one, I swapped it in. Same shit, dammit. There's a waste of $140. But leaves me with a spare

So man, I'm thinking there's a rubber line that's collapsed, the accumulator is busted, or I need to tear further into the fuel dizzy and clean the other ports and screen etc.

Anyone? Brandon?

[Mikewire]

Edit, Hey Randy. Yeah I blew air through the dizzy and the lines, but somewhere I am still having a drop in pressure. It'd be really nice to have that pressure tester if it's available, or I can pick one up somewhere, I'd do that too. If I can narrow down where the pressure drops - before or after the fuel dizzy - I'll know where to knock out the cobwebs

[YASHA7FOLD]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTrcTx-W4Dg[/youtube]

[YASHA7FOLD]

inspiration

[Ramrod]

Love the rusted spokes on the hoodride!

[Mikewire]

Ha, thanks Wade That does help keep me going.

Working on it this weekend, I am still having the same issues. Seems to have low pressure, not enough to get the injectors to spray.

I went looking in for the issue in a couple of places. First I checked the pump and made sure is was delivering fuel through the accumulator - I disconnected the rubber line from the hardline at the pump, and did the same at the fuel distributor - it has good flow, no blockage that I can tell, and that little pump can move some fuel.

Since that was good I moved to the fuel distributor. I had read that they can get varnished and sticky from old fuel, and found a couple of articles on how to tear down and clean these CIS distributors. It's not hard, and I was able to clean it up and make sure all the ports were clean and the diaphragms are working as they should be. I got it back together and it seems to work better - I'll post some pics of the process after I get them off my camera.

Since that was good, I also disassembled the pressure control valve, removed the parts, diaphragm, and blew out the ports and screen so they are nice and clean. I also removed the hoses and blew air through them as well.

After all that work, I got everything back together and tested. I get flow when I lift the plunger, but it's not enough to fire the injectors. If I pull an injector off the line, and lift the plunger I get a good amount of fuel, but it seems to be low pressure. So I'm still stumped, and I am missing something.

I double checked that the pump is correct for the model, it is. It operates at 73psi, but it's no where near that pressure in the fuel lines.

[kompressorgolf]

maybe i missed it, but have you seen any cleaner through the injectors tryin to clean them? it may not seem like enough pressure in the injector lines, but that pressure has a very small orriface to go through at the end. I cant stress injectors enough!

EDIT* i re-read the thread and seen you tested/cleaned them successfully, however i had the same thing they seemed fine with cleaner and tested decent, i could get it to fire run a second then die out. hope you dont need new ones, bout 200 bucks ill stew on it see if i can remember anything else!

[Mikewire]

Thanks Brandon, I *think* the injectors are OK, but the problem is that I don't seem to have enough pressure to fire the injectors.

Here's the story - Thanks to Randy for bringing his fuel pressure tester out last night and verifying that I am not going crazy. We found that there is about 100psi to the outlet of the pump, and there was literally 0 psi going to the injector line, and about 35-40psi at the WUR (warm up fuel regulator) . Randy brought a spare dizzy out, so we swapped it, and started getting pressure, and at some point we did get a spray from the injectors. But soon after that point, it was up and down between 40-55psi. Then the pump started squealing like it's sucking air or not able to push fuel, and fuel pressure was all over the gauge, and about 30psi at the injector line. We still got about 100psi at the fuel filter output, but it was jumping up and down +5/-5 psi. Something is not right.

This is where I am stumped. Maybe I am getting air in the line and I need to put a clamp on the hose input to the fuel line. It's possible I have a rubber line collapsing. The rubber lines in the pump and accumulator are not more than 6 inches each, and he hard lines are not crushed and seem to flow fine.

The pump seems to be fine, and is brand spanking new. We were running it directly from the battery, which is fully charged.

Anyone seen an issue like this?

If the lines are collapsing, there are two lines I need - one is between the fuel pump and the fuel accumulator. The other is from the accumulator to the fuel hard line. They seem to be rabbit pickup specific parts.

Brandon, any possible way these lines are available from VW or does anyone have a spare I can get from them?

[Mikewire]

Last night I tried all 3 pumps, and both accumulators. I found that all pumps work, but one that seems to be the quietest and work without squealing is the one Wade gave me. I also unscrewed the screw on the back of the accumulator and found that I do have a bad one - it leaked gas out of the port. The other one however, the original, held gas fine and no leak. With the new combo, I actually got a bit of a spray from the injectors, and the engine would start and run for a few seconds, but then die...there's still not quite enough pressure to keep it running. There's still that strange lope, or surge of pressure that's very strange.

I also pulled the short fuel lines between the accumulator/pump/hardline and checked them out. They seem fine, no kinks or collapsed hose. For being about 30 years old they are in fine shape, and no blockage or restriction that I can tell.

To add to the problem, I'm now having an issue with spark. I have intermittent spark, that comes and goes. I have checked the terminals on the ground #15 on the coil and it seems to be good. I figured I may have a hall sender starting to fail but when I pulled the cap and rotor off the dizzy, I'm not so sure how to get at the sensor, and the window plate doesn't slide up and off the shaft. Could also be the ICU, so I need to take Josh up on the offer for a spare. Time to buy the Bentley

Couple of things to try next is to blow out the return line. I just had a thought that maybe there is something blocking the return, so the bypass valve is opening and causing surges in fuel pressure. Probably pick up a spare hall sender and maybe an ignition switch, just in case.