1.9 ALH Injection Pump Issue

I recently picked up a 1.9alh beetle for cheap, and i'm having an issue priming the injection pump.

I am trying to pull vacuum through the pump with a funnel suspended from the hood so I can monitor the fuel going into the pump. I am able to hold about 20in/wc of vacuum on the pump for a few minutes with no fuel being drained from the funnel.

I have pulled the top cover and the QA body off of the pump to reseal, and I did not notice anything that looked to be broken/nothing laying in the pump body. I replaced the head seal as well.

I pulled the shut off solenoid out and the plunger seemed like it was stuck a little bit, but came out. There is 12v to the solenoid at ignition on.

I am going to try to prime the pump with the plunger removed from the solenoid valve today, just to rule that out.

Is there any other failure points to look into before I swap the pump?

without it running? no not much, not without pulling off the QA. you can inspect the cam lobes, and the QA arm and some other bits, some people have issues bending the QA arm for some dumb reason. worth looking at as its a royal PITA to fix.

Mine did the same thing when I re-sealed my pump. I would pull a vacuum and nothing would move, or very little.

I pulled as much with the Mighty-Vac as I could and left it like that for 2-3 hours. Came back and the pump had primed.

Not sure why this worked, but maybe worth a try before replacing the pump.

Only done this a couple times, easy both times. But I've read of this condition many times. Maybe bump the engine (to put the pump internals in a different place).

I have tried cranking the motor with the funnel hooked up to the injection pump inlet, and saw minimal fuel pulled into the pump.

I will leave the pump under vacuum and see what happens.

If I pick up a used/working pump, I assume I can just swap the QA to rule that out before swapping the entire pump?

Use pressure, not vacuum. Works much better. And crack each delivery pipe loose at the injector and crank the engine.

I tried priming my friend's pump every which way (with a known leak) so she could at least get home including cracking the injectors. Nothing worked initially.

Then only way I could get her pump to prime was disconnecting the return line from the injector and hooking that mightyvac up to the end of the return line and pulling vac there. Worked great even with a visible fuel leak from the pump.

What I've never had fail:

Hook up a small inline (with leads) diesel rated fuel pump between the from-tank line and the INLET to the filter. Hook clips to the battery and ground; it will run and build pressure.

Now crack injector line nut #3 (the one with the lift sensor in it.) Crank until you get fuel at the nut (wrap a rag around the nut to limit the mess and you definitely want someone else there to tell you when they see fuel as you crank!) Snug it up. Repeat if you wish on the others but you probably won't need to; it will almost-certainly fire on #3 and within a few seconds expel the air from the rest of them.

I've installed completely dry pumps after being rebuilt for people a few times and this has become my "go to" as it's fast, easy and has always worked -- and it also avoids the risk of introducing contaminants into the system since unfiltered fuel never goes into the pump.

air compressor, 15 psi of pressure put into the return to the tank, you should get diesel to prime the filter and the IP easily

Genesis said:

What I've never had fail:

Hook up a small inline (with leads) diesel rated fuel pump between the from-tank line and the INLET to the filter. Hook clips to the battery and ground; it will run and build pressure.

Now crack injector line nut #3 (the one with the lift sensor in it.) Crank until you get fuel at the nut (wrap a rag around the nut to limit the mess and you definitely want someone else there to tell you when they see fuel as you crank!) Snug it up. Repeat if you wish on the others but you probably won't need to; it will almost-certainly fire on #3 and within a few seconds expel the air from the rest of them.

I've installed completely dry pumps after being rebuilt for people a few times and this has become my "go to" as it's fast, easy and has always worked -- and it also avoids the risk of introducing contaminants into the system since unfiltered fuel never goes into the pump.

Click to expand...

I've always thought about plumbing one of those small diesel rated pumps in-line either with a toggle or not to be able to just do that. The only thing that's held me back is there was no info on how well they flow if no power is going to them, as well they are supposed to be the same height as the tank (no more than 12" higher maybe?)

The one I have is really more of a transfer pump; you COULD use it full-time if you figured out how to wire it to run with the IP (e.g. off the stud on the IP cutoff would be a good choice.) Of course if it fails you're now stuck and forced to remove and re-plumb without it or you go nowhere.

Putting pressure on the return line and pressurizing the tank is a VERY bad idea. I know people do it, and the cap SHOULD vent pressure long before anything terrible happens, but...... I wouldn't. Use an inline pump.

It takes all of a couple of minutes to stick the one I have in inline with the feed to the filter from the tank for priming purposes. For filter changes I don't bother with it; there I just remove the outlet from the filter and apply suction until I get fuel, then re-attach the feed to the IP and you should be fine as the small bubble of air shouldn't be a problem.

I run a CBEA/CJAA auxiliary electric pump with jumper wires to the battery. Works great. It is just a generic Bosch free standing electric pump, same one they've been using on countless European cars since the '70s. I am sure there is a Chinasquirt cheapo equivalent out there if you want to use one of those. There are different versions depending on application, as some have threaded ends for banjo fittings or other type set ups. My last pump was from a '76 Bus, but it accidentally got ran over (don't ask ).

I put it between the filter and the pump, so it is pulling filtered fuel through the filter and into the inlet port on the pump. I only run it for a few seconds with the delivery pipes still slightly loose at the injectors. Crank the engine, run it a few seconds, repeat, then when fuel is starting to come out of the pipes, I remove the electric pump, hook t he hoses up like normal, crank the engine for another second until I see the fuel "spit" at the pipe connections, then tighten those connections. Then crank the engine with the accelerator pressed about 2/3 until the engine fires up. Then let it run until it smooths out and hits reliably on all 4 cylinders. Easy peasy, done oodles of them like that.

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions! I was able to finally get the pump primed.

I ended up using an inline pump between the filter and injection pump, and eventually found out the banjo check valve/fitting was clogged with the tiniest dirt.

I will be checking IQ and pump timing next.

Upon startup I have a very high idle and endless white smoke. Coolant and oil seem fine, I’m going to drain a little bit of oil just to be safe as it’s a tiny bit above the hash marks on the dipstick. From what I’ve read I should check the turbo oil seals.

Thanks again!