[Vwdiesel] Thanks for the advice

[Iain Hunter]

Thanks for your advice everyone.

I had the chance to look at the tank, and it looks as though the whole area 
around the fuel line junction was badly corroded, and came away when he 
tried to remove the fuel line (although I don't know how much force he 
used!!!).

I have paid the guy, but will never take another car to him again, as he has 
not fixed the problem and now he knows it's the pump, has passed the buck 
back to me.

I've decided to take your advice and stick with the motor in the van at the 
moment, as it was running fine up until the recent cold spell and was 
returning a healthy 30-35 MPG, even when the van was full of camping equipment. It also has 
receipts for new pistons, bearings, head and a re-bore about 50,000 miles 
ago that the last owner carried out, so in theory, it should be fine? 

I'm going to take my pump down to a local expert to assess. If it turns out 
that he quotes mega-money then i'll try and fix it myself if I can. I 
have a friend with a spare pump from a 1.6 N/A Golf /Rabbit. Would any parts 
be interchangeable with my pump? I.E. the cold start mechanism. I have tried 
to start the van before without the cold start in winter, and found it runs 
like a pig (It's cold up here int' north) so i'd like to keep it. If the pump needs a complete rebuild, then it'll have to wait - the kids need a Christmas!

The turbo oil return pipes are rusty yes and the manifold gasket will have 
to be replaced, but dropping in another motor could introduce other 
problems, (like you say), and besides when this one goes bang, i'd like to 
have a 5ltr V10 TDI sat there ready and waiting!

Joking aside though, it's a shame this has happened, as otherwise that van 
is a beauty and has never before let me down, despite it's age.

I'll keep you posted on the pump.

Iain.