leigha

no news on the polo fuel pump yet as my bro has been out but i can now confirm that the lifter pump is fine and the injection pump is totally stuffed! it's actually siezed internally due to massive wear! (had to open it up out of curiosity!) the bmw ones are actually very similar but not the same physical size and then also not the right pressure rating. the wear on the old pump has me wondering though... with the wear that was present, i wouldn't be at all suprised if the operating pressure was seriousl reduced. at this reduced pressure the spray pattern from the injectros could have been really bad (dribbley!?) which could explain the mysterously poor fuel economy this car has suffered from...?

on the subject of temporary cobbling together of another pump, i've just had a look at the specs for the bmw fuel pumps i have and they both operate at 2.5 - 3 bar. according to the golf haynes manual, the injected cars need nearer 4.5 - 5 bar. that's that one out then! all hopes are now pinned on the polo one. this is all doubly annoying as it died aboout an hour after all the breakers yards and motor factors near me closed on saturday and i need the car all next week! once the in-laws have left (soon hopefully!), it's time to start pulling the thing apart to see the score....

ok, cheers to test the lifter and injection pumps, if i disconnect the supply lines from both (individually) and switch the ignition on, it should throw out fuel in an attempt to reach the right operating pressure, right? does anyone know what operating pressure the injection pump needs to run at? i may have to get my husband to cobble something together for a while as ideally i need to use the car to get me to work, my husband to work and the kids to 2 seperate schools all week! sods law that this happened after a half term week where only my husband was doing anything each day! regarding replacements, i've briefly searched the GSF website part numbers for matches and some 8v mk2 golfs and the 16v mk2 golf seem to have the same injection pump, is there any other cars that i can scour the breakers for that would have a pump that works? my bro-in-law thinks he still has an injection pump from a mk3 polo coupe gt lurking, though the part number is different on the gsf site. however i can't see what the actual differences are! argh!

the fuel pump has always been noisy on our corrado but has always worked ok. the other day we ran out of fuel, though the gauge was still not in the red but it has run out like this before. i'm fairly confident this was an empty tank as i heard the sickening fuel pump scream when it chugged to a stop (outside house luckily enough!!!) after a refill, all was well for 2 days when it has now conked out. the fuel pump used to make a loud whirring noise when priming, now it just makes a quick 'grunt' if anything!!! i suspect the fuel injection pump has been finished off by some crap from the dregs of the tank but as i'm new to VW's , can anyone else confirm this? could it be the lifter pump or fuel filter possibly? cheers!

might be worth a go... i've not done the usual redex trick yet. it's odd as the engine is running well and feels strong but at this level of performance drop i'd expect it to be unhealthy and misbehaving

right... i've just reached the end of a tankful of 98 octane and......... no difference! MFA indicated 20.5 mpg, actual 22.8mpg. not great. :(

diesel conversion? ;) our other car does about the same mpg but that's a E30 3 series bmw with a fairly bloody pokey 3.5 litre conversion and you have to thrash the tits off it for the mpg to drop that low!!! it's also just a tad quicker ;)

i've just got figures for another round-town only tankfull: MFA indicated 20mpg calculated 22.5mpg the average speed on this full tankful (according to the mfa) was 17mph so all pretty slow stuff but no real thrashing or anything. i've now refilled with the new shell high octane stuff to see how it fares with the right fuel in there......

ok. the definitive combined economy figures for by car over a 260 mile average are: 22.4mpg according the the MFA (with the milage agreeing with the new odometer) 25.2mpg actualy, measured. this was done by filling the tank to the brim with 95 octane, zeroing off the MFA and tripmeter and driving 260 miles. then refilling to the brim (47 litres). in the standardised units for fuel economy, that's 65 miles to a tenner! that was not including more than 5 miles of spanking and did include a sedate 100 miles on a nice run, keeping to a sensible speed (60 max) with no 'booting it'. does this sound bad then people?

right, i've not got this sorted yet but hope to over christmas (been driving very gingerly and often sideways since my last post!!!!) does anyone have a measurement from the centre of the rear hub to the highest part of the arch on a standard suspension setup? i can then use a jack to lift the rear to this height and see exactly how the valve is set. then i can try and replicate this at my new ride height. i can't just assume it's 40mm as the weitec kit is rear ride height adjustable!

they're fine. it's definately a heavy rear bias, that can be felt when braking at any speed it must reckon there's about 1/4 of a tonne in the boot!

yes! driving in the wet especially is scary. i lowered the ride height at the rear by another 10mm at the weekend to get it stitting level and now it's a lot worse. the rears will lock first in any situation though the fronts aren't a long way behind probably doesn't help that the rear brakes are in tip top condition with new calipers and pads etc.

yup!

i wonder what vw will charge for setting mine up?

not bloody bad!!!!! cheers! this one is actually only about 3 months old. they don't make things like they used to!!!

any ideas on how much it needs adjusting?

i had a good look yesterday eve. i suspect it could be modified to change the rate of increase but its not going to be a quick or easy mod. for now i reckon i'll leave it! which brings me to my next question... how do i readjust the valve? it looks like the arm could be adjusted but the haynes jokebook (golf) says to take it to VW where they set the spring tension by adjusting the spring itself...? i assume i'm really looking to effectively slacken it off but need an idea of how much...

it does clip back on! but then it falls off again...

looks like there are clips on the cap for it... i'll give it a go! though it looked odd!

just found this thread i'd forgotten about!!! still not had a proper look either!!! is the compensator mounted just in front of the rear wheel? is there one on each side? it keeps raining so i've not played under the rear of the car yet!!!!

finally got some pics of the offending parts:

that would be odd as it's a new tank, the previous owner fitted it about 3 months ago. i'll have a look though.

i've got some clocks to fit this weekend so hopefully i'll have good news soon, though the rate i'm filling up seems to indicate all is not that well

it's a black plastic thing that sits in the top of the expansion tank, under the screw-on cap.

i'm not that daft!!!!! it's got a new expansion tank on it so it should be on ok condition. it's just the button part was tight in there and seemed like it didn't want to come out without damage. made me wonder if it wasn't supposed to for some odd reason?