300 tdi Fuel lift pump?

[savoy83]

Evening all,

I changed the fuel filter on my 1995 3000 tdi this evening. Went to the manual lever on the pump to bleed the air from the bleed screw on top of the filter to find absolutely no resistance whatsoever?! Consequently I could not bleed the system?! SO, trusting Haynes advice I tried re-setting the lever by turning the engine via the crank pulley bolt. It made no difference. Tried turning it on the starter motor too. Ran the engine on what little fuel was in the system and checked for a flow from the fuel lift pump TO the filter and there wasn't one! The engine is now starved of fuel.

So, i suspect the fuel lift pump is dodgy (it's 12 yrs old)? I wonder whether any of you lot can confirm my suspicions based on your experiences / know how?
Thanks in advance,

savoy83.:eek:

[discoverytdi]

If your getting no fuel or pressure from the lift pump then I think its knakered, mine went the same way this week. Take of the pump an take a look the primer should connect to a metal rod thats where mine had gone new pump £30 from poaddocks. Hope this helps

[savoy83]

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Took it off and the primer does connect to the rod but only gives it a very small degree of movement? Certainly far less movement than it has when i work it by hand? Sound familiar? I can only think that the primer/rod contact wears after 12 years?

Cheers.:)

[floyd fan]

Got mine of ebay for a tenner.

[bilge rat]

iff you try to prime the lever when the engine is in a certain position it wont work, you have to turn the engine over sligghtly to get it off cam iff ya no what i mean . saying that it should work as nomal iff you have removed it. geuss it worked o.k before you changed the filter . its unusual for it to give out at that spacific time, cheers alan.....

[discoverytdi]

another thing to try while you've got the pump off is to operate the lever with you fingers over the 2 pipes you should feel slight suction from one and air escaping from the other

[Dogsbreath]

Suspected the lift pump on my beast was a bit dodgy, so when changing the fuel filter I make sure it's full of clean diesel before screwing it back in place, done it a couple of times now and it starts up with no problems;)

[savoy83]

For the sake of 'closure' and for the benefit of any future enquirers the new fuel lift pump seems to be working. The engine is now revving freely and idling at the right speed. Fitted it, opened the bleed screw, ran the engine until fuel p****d out of the top and closed the screw again. Apart form a bit of a 'niff' it's a.o.k.

Thanks all for your advice.:D

[discoverytdi]

glad you go it sorted, lift pumps can be a ****** to test