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Replace the top on the fuel pump and set the parking brake and take the car out of gear. Pull the hose that runs from the fuel pump to the carburetor off at the carburetor end. Put the big 19mm box end wrench (ring spanner) on the alternator/generator nut and turn the engine over the way it goes (clockwise). You should get fuel being pumped out of the hose by the fuel pump. Try it again.
NOTE: You need to turn the engine pulley around twice for each squirt of fuel -- it works off the same camshaft which operates the valves and the distributor, and this shaft spins at 1/2 engine revs.
If you have fuel at the pump but the pump still does not do its thing, you probably have a defective fuel pump. Replacing the fuel pump is one of the simplest VW jobs. First, remove the hose from the gas tank and then remove the two nuts that connect the pump to the engine with the 13 or 14mm wrench (the one in the back is a bit fiddly). Take the pump to the auto parts store and see if you can trade it in for a rebuilt one (unlikely anymore, but new ones aren't all that expensive). Pack the part of the new fuel pump that fits onto the two bolts with wheel bearing grease, then install the new pump with the same shims (if any) and a new gasket. Test the new pump as above.
If you are getting good squirts of fuel out of the hose, reconnect the hose to the carburetor, take the 19mm wrench off of the alternator/generator nut, make sure everything is connected, let any spilled fuel dry out, then go and try to start the engine again. If you have spark and fuel it should go. If it still doesn't start, you have deeper trouble like the carburetor or the timing is way out of adjustment.
The fuel pump works at the same point as you time the engine - across Top Dead Center (TDC) for #1 cylinder. So you can rock the engine back and forward across TDC for #1 (about 45 degrees either side of TDC) and get some fuel flow, but if the pump is empty, it takes a LOT of pump strokes to see any flow (I've tried it).
One other thing - I suppose you have the right pushrod for the right pump? The original pump style is tall and uses a longer pushrod. The later style is short (dome shape on top) so it will fit under the alternator on those models. This pump style fits all cars so long as the shorter pushrod is used.
So if you replaced a shorter style pump with the original taller style, you have to change the pushrod to the long one or it won't pump at all.
Someone wrote with a fuel pump problem -
I have a ’64 Type II Bus. I replaced my fuel pump; when I attempted to remove the plastic flange that the fuel pump sits on the flange broke!. So now I have the bottom half of the flange wedged in the crank case. I am going to have to remove and dismantle the whole engine to get at this piece of the plastic flange?
Rob responded -
I've never heard of this plastic gasket breaking before -- it just sits flat on the case and separates the pump from the heat of the case -- I have no idea why it would break, so can only provide general advice.
Can you still see the broken pieces? Can you get at them with long needle-nose pliers, or drill a hole into them and then screw in a wood screw, or self tapping screw and pull them out?
If it's jammed hard, could you get at it with a piece of hack-saw blade to cut through it perhaps - since it's plastic a few shavings inside the case won't cause major problems like metal would, and you should be able to flush them out of the case through the sump plate. Or maybe you could invert the engine on a workbench and work at the plastic from underneath, so any stuff falls out of the case.
Other than that - I think you might have to split the case - what a pain.
The person continues -
I pulled out the wedged bottom piece of the plastic flange by threading a lag bolt into the hole that the push rod moves in. Of course it didn't pull out nice and easy. A couple of pieces broke off in the process, which I feel I recovered most of with a vacuum cleaner. But I am afraid a scrapnel the size of a paper clip (little thicker) fell into the crankcase.
Rob responded -
Not good, but at least it's not metal.
But -- its anybody’s guess of how much is to much plastic in a crankcase!
Try pouring some thin cheap oil into the distributor hole to see if you can wash it down to the bottom of the case -- then you might be able to get it out through the sump plate. I don't know if that plastic will float on oil - hopefully it will sink to the bottom.
Remember that the engine does have a gauze filter around the oil pick-up, so it's not likely anything significant will get in to the oil system at least, so all you really need to worry about is pieces being splashed on to moving parts, so if you can get rid of those you should be fine.
Question continued -
Backing up a little, It started by me deciding to replace the gasket under the plastic flange when I was replacing my fuel pump. Initially, I just installed the new fuel pump without this step. But after cranking the engine over with my 21 mm wrench no fuel still would flow from the fuel pump. (the original problem) I have fuel flowing out of the gas line that connects to the pump, so I would assume that by cranking the engine by hand with a wrench would soon produce a flow from the pump. (Correct me if this is inaccurate.)
Rob's response continued -
The fuel pump works at the same point as you time the engine - across TDC for No1 cylinder. So you can rock the engine back and forward across TDC for No1 (about 45 degrees either side of TDC) and get some fuel flow, but if the pump is empty, it takes a LOT of pump strokes to see any flow (I've tried it).
Question continued -
Then I went to the push rod and thought I would continue with replacing the gasket under the flange. And there we are, with a little bit of plastic in the crank case.
Response continued -
One other thing -- I suppose you have the right pushrod for the right pump? The original pump style is tall and uses a longer pushrod. The later style is short (dome shape on top) so it will fit under the alternator on those models. This pump style fits all cars so long as the shorter pushrod is used.
So if you replaced a shorter style pump with the original taller style, you have to change the pushrod to the long one or it won't pump at all.
Dave wrote to Rob -
I was lucky when I replaced the fuel pump in our ’73 SB, I guess. I bought it from a local auto parts store -- just bolted it on, without even removing the push rod, and off we went. Must have been okay, because it works just fine. I asked for the pump for a '71 engine -- and it must have been right.
Rob responded -
Most of the replacement pumps these days are the squat type, which fit all engines so long as they already have the shorter pushrod. It would probably be a little unusual to see the older tall type now.
Dave wrote -
Yes, our's is the squat type. I was surprised to find it at our local auto parts store.
Rob responded -
That was handy - I guess it's one of the more common replaceable items, though they ARE quite reliable (only replaced the pump on my ’70 Bug once that I can remember).
Dave wrote -
I'll never forget the experience I had with the overhaul of a fuel pump on one of my VWs back in 1968 or so. On that model ('63, I think) there was a bolt that went right down through the top, with a gasket under it. After working on the fuel pump that day, my wife and I went into town for the evening (about 65 miles or so), and when we went to leave the car wouldn't run. The only thing that was different was the fuel pump -- I checked it out and found that the gasket under that bolt was cracked. Fortunately there was a hardware store nearby -- I bought a small faucet washer, and it worked like a charm! I don't think I ever replaced that faucet washer! :-)
Disclaimer stuff: Rob and Dave have prepared this information from their own experiences. We have not assumed any specialised mechanical knowledge, but we DO assume that anyone using this information has at least some basic mechanical ability.
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Last revised 5 May 2004.
