[Vwdiesel] Air in fuel lines

[David Cook]

I spent quite a bit of the day yesterday with Dad's
TDI.  Adjusted the very stretched e-brake cables,
fixed a fuel leak at the top of the filter, and a
couple other things.  I also made an appointment for
thursday for it's new exhaust!

However, I'm still messing with air in the fuel lines.
 I know it is getting in before the connection at the
plastic line that comes up to the engine compartment. 
(I have a clear line running from that plastic line to
the fuel filter, and can see the bubble coming in from
there.)

Yesterday, I crawled into the trunk and replaced the
two lines that connect the fuel uptake from the gas
tank to the little valves that attach to the plastic
lines.  No change.

The car seems to run and drive just fine, though when
I really have my foot in the pedal, I notice a slight
bit of surging and would attribute this to the
bubbles.  

Questions:  Other than the slight surging, can this do
any long-term damage to anything?  No fuel seems to be
leaking out anywhere with all this.

Is there any good way to really troubleshoot where the
air could be coming in?  

If I replaced the hard plastic fuel line, what is a
recommended replacement?  I was thinking about just
getting some metal line from a FLAPS and bending it to
fit.  Anything wrong with that plan?

If I do that, what could happen if I eleminated the
plastic valves?  What are those, just check valves? 
How necessary are they?

I wish VW would have used some kind of lift pump on
the diesels.  It seems that having the fuel pushed
towards the injection pump would prevent this kind of
thing.

Thoughts?

David


David Cook
Red '86 Cabriolet Diesel Powered
Red '90 g60 Corrado 
Brown and White '78 Westy Campmobile "Bear"
and others in various states of disrepair
Pictures here: community.webshots.com/user/superdave5599

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