mk1 caddy fuel issues (help?!)

[pinky]

mk1 rabbit truck
1980 vintage
1.6 (?) Bosch CIS
didnt run when i got it
apparently hadn't been run in awhile as the last inspection expired in early '04.
definitely getting spark.

i had the truck towed to gerich's house. had an issue the PO described as "possibly the fuel pump, possibly the wiring, i'm not sure"

we put about 2 gallons of new gas in the almost-empty tank.

at some point we realized the distributor (spark distributor, not fuel distributor) hold-down was loose and the distributor could easily be turned by hand, so the timing is guaranteed fucked. the plan was to get it running somewhat w/ small adjustments to the distributor, then pull out the timing gun and get it dead on (3* ATDC, per the bentley)

we were seeing ~12v at the harness for the fuel pump just outside the body, maybe 8" from the pump and ~7v at the pump when it should have been running (ignition = "ON")

the wires b/w the harness and pump were kinda chewed up, so we spliced in some new wires.

still seeing ~7v at the pump with the pump attached. we disconnected one of the leads and measured ~11v at the pump terminals (pump not attached). we also measured the current draw and it jumped around alittle, but was right around 8 amps. bentley says replace the pump if it's drawing more than 8.5 amps.

is the pump fucked? maybe it's just gummed up from the old gas? i have one on the project car that i was going to pull off this weekend and swap them, but i was wondering if anyone had any ideas. keep in mind a new pump runs ~$200 and i dont want to put that into the truck unless i have to b/c it only cost me $450.

we dont have a pressure tester, any ideas where i can pick one up for cheap borrow one? from what i've found, the CIS system requires special fittings b/c most pressure testers come in two varieties "for all cars except Bosch CIS" and "for Bosch CIS" except the $600 master sets

thx in advance

[pinky]

there is also a sporatic backfire-like popping in the intake manifold/boot maybe once/twice every 4 seconds or so when i'm trying to start it... tends to blow off vacuum hoses and make gerich cuss like a sailor..

[evan@absolute]

can you hear the pump? If you have power and ground to the pump you should be able to feel and hear it run.

[gerich]

It runs but it very slowly. I think we are looking at a clogged pump or fuel filter or the pump is just toast after a 26 year run.

[pinky]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2871860

[VDUBNLUVN]

ahh yes old gummy cis.

remove pump. get a good battery and wire it directly to the battery. that pump should jump and wizz like hell. if not its either locked up where you will feel it jump but no whizz, if it does nothing electronics may be done. i have been successfull about 40% of the time unlocking stuck pumps by shooting carb cleaner in the inlet and repetitivily bumping power to it.

does the fuel system smell stale?

remove the fuel dist, ( leave lines on) and see if the plunger moves freely.
if not carb cleaner should free that up, dont remove it unless you have to so you keep the plunger depth in check.

once you have determined you have pressure from the pump, and at the dist, jump the relay, pull the injectors out, and pull up on the air plate, visually look the see how the injectors spray, if they are clogged soak in carb cleaner. try again. good time to replace injector seals.

my cis fuel pressure tester is a wrench. i crack the pressure lint to the dist. if it makes it accross the shop, or in my eyes then she should run.

reman mk1 pumps are around 80$ i think.

[pinky]

haha.. this post was old.. we got it to run

we had to drain all the old gas.. we replaced the pump, but i dont think that was the problem (no worries, tho, i had a spare).. i cleaned/unstuck the cis plunger thing and used some intake/carb cleaner to clean some gunk off the cold start injector... it fired right up.. with a little idle tweaking, we got it to idle and actualy drove it..

now to work out the issues with the brakes and steering... (needs new rotors/fluid/tie rod ends/ball joints/etc)