Fuel Pump sound? - 86 5KS

[Buchholz, Steven]

> wasn't normal.  duh!  anyway, when i pulled it out to inspect the mesh
> screen it wasn't clogged so i ended up just replacing it.  i did keep the
> old one just in case.

... the screen on the pump on my BiL's '88 5kS Avant looked fine when it was
wet with fuel ... once the thing dried off I found that it had some material
caked on the mesh that reduced flow ... the restriction was so bad you could
hear the speed of the pump increase as the pump ran dry ... the engine would
stall shortly thereafter.  After I removed the screen the pump was so quiet
you had to listen for it to hear the pump run ... remember this is an avant
too!  It has now been a couple months since I did this mod ... so far, so
good!

You will hear the response that removing the screen will result in having
all of the gunk in the tank run through the pump ... and there is no arguing
this point.  However you know that none of the gunk will make it past the
fuel filter, and given the fact that you were planning on replacing the pump
in any case, every hour that the pump lives on is one less hour on the
replacement pump.  When you're doing the fuel pump on the T-44 you have to
be working in the tank anyway ... so you can see how badly contaminated the
tank is.  

I am _pretty_sure_ that I saw on TFA for the V8 that it had a screen that
was not integral with the pump ... for those who would like to retain the
screen it may be possible to retrofit the V8's screen on the old style pump.
I would not be surprised if the '91 200q/20v had the exact same pump
configuration as the V8Q.  

The problem with clogged screens is not a new one either ... my 1978 Audi
Fox GTI has a screen mounted in the tank at the pickup.  I had a problem
where the car would stall in hard left turns when the tank got below 1/4
tank which was resolved by replacing the screen in the tank ...

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)