When they say replace fuel lines - They mean ALL of them!

[Guest]

History Commands

[January 04, 2009, 07:18:08 AM] edwin .s.nathan: I live in a tropical country ie malaysia.Need to install air conditioning.Any idea on where to put the vents

[January 05, 2009, 10:21:13 AM] BusManVW70: Hello everyone Im new to the site and I have just added some pictures of my 1970 VW Camper his name is Fred enjoy..

[January 06, 2009, 10:03:55 AM] Jamesbehave: oh man

[January 06, 2009, 10:04:11 AM] Jamesbehave: talk about brain dead

[January 06, 2009, 10:04:22 AM] Jamesbehave: read my post

[January 06, 2009, 10:18:51 AM] JimmyD\'s: 1977 vw camper wont start HELP

[January 06, 2009, 10:19:09 AM] JimmyD\'s: her name is lucy

[January 06, 2009, 11:22:28 AM] Jamesbehave: whats going on

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:04 AM] JIMMYD: i have two shitty batteries I have been taking turns on trickle charges. So I put the fresh good battery in and she tries but

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:39 AM] JIMMYD: she won't flip. I've checked all the fuses.... rolled her back.

[January 06, 2009, 11:41:05 AM] JIMMYD: Found an old allman brothers ticket

[January 06, 2009, 11:42:02 AM] JIMMYD: the starter has always seemed fine.... no problems

[lemonspeed]

So today was my day to start work on the interior, off to the local VW scrap yard to get new door panels, window cranks, maybe score a good set of curtains......1st stop, the gas station..., now my gas gauge doesnt work so i roll on the 200miles assumption and it was getting close.

Pull up - start pumping, fill it real full , head inside and pay. As i returned i quickly noticed all the people around admiring my beautiful 74' ,....nope, they are looking at the massive amounts of gas pouring out the drivers side battery pan......awesome.....what the hell did i do?....gas lines are good....must be a hole in my tank?

Opened up the engine, gas everywhere......quickly found the source....a really short braided fuel line ( drivers side) connecting 2 metal lines....one from the tank?( help me out here) and the other makes its way up to the air intake fins then back down......breather/ overflow i assume ( again- little help???).....anyway, lucky to have some 9mm hose ( wrong size i know)....cut it quick....slapped it on and WHEW!!!....seems to have stopped.

Made my way to a nearby friends place to check....again the gas has made its way out of the oversized line.....must have filled it wayyyyy to full!....picked up the right size ( well, almost ,as i cant find 7mm anywhere) and got things sorted......

I had no idea this very short piece of line even lived there between the two metal lines ( it looked original as well!) but just goes to show the importance of the whole fuel line issue when buying a bus.

The 74' and i have been mates for a month now, this being my first emergency with her.....pretty good i think - the info available here has really help me to prepare and prevent alot of issues i had as a kid with my ex bus (71' named brown lucy) Thanks for all the work that goes into this site.....hope this post helps to prevent someone else from my gas station maddness   ( armpits still smell like gas from trying to fix that line   haha)

[zozo]

You should put a small hose clamp on every single fuel line, at both ends.  If that would have come off while the engine was running, you could have watched your bus go up in flames.

[lemonspeed]

Agreed!, now every single line is clamped and solid.....still cant beleive how well hidded that overflow  was.....looked to be all metal lines and until yesterday , i never once saw the small 2" hose connecting them!

[rastafoo]

You're talking about the metal lines coming from the air intake fins (behind the rear side windows) down into the engine compartment and almost meeting at the top of the engine compartment right behind the top of the rear engine hatch? I've been advised NOT to seal that off as it was part of a fume recovery system that used to have a charcoal filter attached and then a hose venting down and out of the engine compartment? Can anyone confirm/deny this? I've driven with nothing attached to these tubes, putting up with the smelly fumes for the last 8 months daily, but have never seen raw gas coming out of them......

[lemonspeed]

Rasta,

 before those lines you will see they come from behind the lower holder where your spare tire is inset to the engine compartment..that is where i had my issue,....as for your breather lines ( for fumes) you should hook them up and run back to the char filter,..this eliminated my fumes and i havent smelt gas since....if you need i'll get some photos of my set up on here for ya!

 

[rastafoo]

The hippies ripped all the smog stuff out long ago, I have just read about the 'mystical filter of charcoal' and 'heater boxes of destiny',  as well as the mythical 'engine tin weatherstripping of yore' ; long extinct creatures of mythology (at least according to Janis - my bus).
Pics would be great to let me see what it's supposed to look like in there.....

[vdubyah73]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=311841&highlight=replace+fuel+lines
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Gas tank Overflow?

Well you found the one that most people miss. Here is a schematic of the tank vent and fill lines, thanks to thesamba.com, scroll down the thread to see it. They can all be done with the tank in place. If you do the fill lines, the pie plate looking disc on the passenger side pops out for access to the filler neck lines. Do replace all flexible lines toot sweet. You must of really overfilled it and then tossed the old girl around on a twisty road to get fuel all the way over there!

Edit to add: I vent my tank by running a line from the tee 15a thru the tin seal to atmosphere under the bus.

[lemonspeed]

Yes, that was the one!    #24 (RED)

The samba has some great diagrams....!!! I still need to find #24 green to see its condition and replace....

RASTA, check this red one on your girl, this may be the source of the gas smell you have??

[vdubyah73]

Yes, that was the one!    #24 (RED)

The samba has some great diagrams....!!! I still need to find #24 green to see its condition and replace....

RASTA, check this red one on your girl, this may be the source of the gas smell you have??

To get to the green ones the firewall in front of the engine needs to come out. There are 2 screws under the bus as well as the ones you can see in the engine bay. Some times they are not there because someone else has already been in there.

Bill

[rastafoo]

Love that diagram! What book did that come from origionally? I'll be sure to check ALL that stuff out, didn't even think of the fill neck.......

[lemonspeed]

Thanks Bill!!!,

Got it ALL done!

 

[Dj:Eep]

the mythical 'engine tin weatherstripping of yore' ; long extinct creatures of mythology (at least according to Janis - my bus).

This mythical weatherstripping?

http://www.germansupply.com/home/customer/product.php?productid=16270&cat=248&page=1

Get it, got it, good.

[vdubyah73]

not mine, from ratwell's site.
http://homepage.mac.com/ratwell/.Pictures/Stock/09-Engine.jpg
09-Engine.jpg (JPEG Image, 800x600 pixels) - Scaled (35%)

http://www.ratwell.com/
Richard Atwell's VW Bus Pages

[rastafoo]

I have already ordered the seal from busdepot - $30. I'm a procrastinater.......