ALH vacuum pump outlet loose

Symptoms: (very) occasional bouts of vacuum loss (once in a blue moon the brakes "disappear"... last week there was no boost for about 3 minutes... I could not duplicate any of these events at will...

I went to look at the vacuum system, and found that the hose coming from the pump was loose, so I proceeded to replace the clamp - and discovered that the outlet nipple was not fixed in place.

Is this normal or is it suppsed to be firmly in one position ???

Yuri.

Yuri, the outlet on the vacuum pump normally rotates. Any other behavior is not normal.

Yes, it rotates, but I could also "shake" it from side to side a bit...

Perhaps I'll see if I have some method of checking the amount of vacuum and try to shake it while reading... perhaps my Harbor Freight MityVac clone will do... if I can find an adapter...

Yuri.

Yuri its normal...keep looking for other causes.

Hey Yuri, i have a vaccuum pump and line from my old engine if you need to replace it. It rotates, but should be fairly tight, without much side movement.

Craig

Thanks! I've been too busy even to leave the house to test out the system...

I'll keep this in mind...

All the best,

Yuri.

I have a similar problem on my 01 tdi with high mileage, sometimes the brake pedal is harder, sometimes there is no boost and sometimes the anti-shudder valve does not activate when I shut down the engine. I also noticed that my fitting on the vacuum pump is pretty loose (sideways movement). I just made few phone calls and discovered the vacuum pump is not cheap 280$ cnd + tax and not readily available. I also looked at tdiparts.com and they sell the vacuum line and the vacuum reservoir not the pump I guess it's usually the reservoir or line that fails.

I will need to check if it's the problem in my case