Saturday, November 6, 2010

Well, Good and bad to report!

The fuel starvation wasn't cured, so further effort and thought was required.
The fact that the inline filter would often be empty when the problem occurred, signaled to me that maybe the filter was blocking and sending the fuel back towards the petrol tank.
So, I removed the inline filter altogether and ran a fresh fuel hose straight from the joining piece to the carburettor.
Then I took the car out for a spin and it drove really well for a number of miles.
Just as I thought I'd cracked it and sorted the problem, the car stopped on me.
Fiddling about with the fuel hoses, restored flow and off I went again.
Although much better than it had been, I still had a problem.


I noticed from the start that the short, final piece of fuel hose, that runs from the mauskino ( the wheel that measures the fuel economy and relays it to the fuel economy gauge on the dashboard) to the carburettor wasn't in a great position to facilitate gravity flow, so at the suggestion of John Short, I removed this and replaced it with a fresh hose that was as short as could possibly be( no pun intended John :)), so that it had to be stretched onto the connectors to make it fit. This resulted in a more downward position with no slack in the line.

I also replaced any other fuel hose that hadn't been renewed and made the whole line as tight as could be, so it couldn't bounce out of place, as it might do, when driving,  if there was any slackness present in the lines.

I also replaced the plastic fuel tap bowl, under the tank as the one I had was ringed and wouldn't tighten properly, which resulted in a small drip/leak when the fuel was turned on.

Result, I drove the car about 15 miles the other day and it ran brilliantly, with no problems in fuel flow.
Lest I speak too soon, I feel it's well sorted now.

The other night I opened the tailgate of the kombi and closed it, thinking to myself it seemed very stiff.
So I opened and closed it again, well attempted to and the whole door came off in my hands, held on only by the wire that sends the heat to the rear window demister.

The hinges had seized and snapped cleanly off!

So I had to snip the wire and set the door to one side, while I unbolted the parts of the hinges that remained on the car and the other bits from the door itself. So, I'm ready for two new hinges that have to be ordered in from Germany as trabiuk couldn't locate any in their stocks.

Next morning, I had to deliver the car to the panel beater/welder who is fitting the new door sills for me.
After a couple of unsuccessful tries and disinterested tradesmen had shown no interest, I finally got someone who acted like he wanted the job and also quoted me a reasonable price.
Of course, as luck would have it, it was absolutely pelting down with rain and me with no back door!
Anyway, I got a tarpaulin and made it fit to shield us from most of the rain and drove to the garage.

I saw the new sills fitted yesterday and they look great and should stay that way for years to come.
The Panel beater sprayed them with primer, so I will spray them in papyrus when I the car home.

More pics and info to follow on Monday when I get the car.

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