RE: low on gas === engine cut out

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> <<There should be enough pressure in the accumulator to cope with the
> >>pump sucking air for several seconds.
> 
... not sure I'd agree with that ... AFAIK the accumulator's only function
in life is to maintain system pressure for a while after the engine is shut
down.  Given that there are pressure-based check valves and such that
determine the opening of the injectors and the return to the tank the
accumulator should be designed to only provide _almost_ enough residual
pressure so as not too open the relief valves ... if the accum could supply
that much pressure it would leak down and defeat its purpose.  

> Hmm. The air that gets into the system has to go somewhere. Even if all
> off
>  the components are fine, if you get a large void, it will travel all the
> way to the injectors and then the engine will quit.>>
> 
... remember that on the CIS systems there is a return line to the tank and
that a good part of the fuel pumped simply ends up making the rounds ... I
would imagine that this is where most of the air would be going ... but even
if some air got into the lines to the injectors I can't imagine more than a
short loss of power, given that air is a compressible fluid and that the
pump and check valve aren't really built for pumping air I really doubt that
very much air would get into the system.  

> When my '82 Rabbit truck, '82 Scirocco, and '86 4kcsq have 1/4th tank of
> fuel 
> or less going through a sharp turn, like an on ramp, traveling at a pretty
> 
> good pace (all the cars have great adhesion) the motor will cut out for a 
> couple seconds then be fine.  
> 
... I don't know if this applies to any of the cars you list (I'm pretty
sure it doesn't apply to the 4k) but I had a similar problem with the '78
Fox GTI which I was able to repair by replacing the fuel screen in the tank.
The biggest cost that I found to this problem was the pump's propensity to
fail when the cooling liquid was eliminated ... even for a short period of
time.  

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)