IP shaft broke during on-car pump head install

IP plunger broke during on-car pump head seal install

Bad day. This morning before work my car would not start at all. It's been hard to start for a while, especially in the cold. If I don't plug in my TDIHeater I'm not going anywhere, the engine can't spin fast enough to fire. I determined that the pump was losing prime somewhere when sitting for several hours. Well, a week or two ago, I actually found that the pump head was DEFINITELY leaking, and this morning it wasn't going to start. So I called off work and decided to finally install the viton o-ring I got from Dieselgeek last year. I've been reluctant to do it because several people have broken their pumps during the procedure, but many have done the procedure with great results. Well, I'm pretty careful, but apparently not enough. I read the procedure over many times. I printed it out and had it with me during the procedure. I had everything ready to go before I started. I read posts on this forum to find all the gotchas and things to look for. It went great up until the part where you put the long 55mm bolt in that will prevent the pump from falling apart. I turned that bolt in, and it drew the pump head in with it almost right away, when the head should have been able to slide freely along the shaft of the bolt. I took it out and reinserted it so many times, tried greasing it, nothing worked. I'd put it in, start turning it with my fingers, and after a few turns the pump head would start pulling in with it. So I wasn't able to tighten it all that way in. I think something had gotten crooked during the process, because it seemed like the dieselgeek bolt was going in straight, meaning it wasn't crossthreading, but the pump head wasn't straight. I tried a few things - I thought maybe putting the other bolts back in and tightening them evenly to a certain degree to straighten the head would help. Whatever I did, at one point something gave way, I heard a snap, and fuel gushed out from behind the head. The bolt I was tightening was suddenly very easy to move. I knew right away something bad had happened, so rather than finishing the job, I took off the QA and this is what i found.


I'm pretty sure that jagged space isn't supposed to be there.
So now the pump has to come out. Anyone else had the 55mm bolt do that? I was so sure I could do this. I'm not yet sure what to do next. I can either swap it with a reman or send it to DFIS for a rebuild. In any case I'm either going to have to tow it to my guru an hour away or get my hands on the TB tools to do it myself. If I do that though I'll have to get the TB off without jacking the car up... it's in a gravel driveway with NO space on either side, off an alley. I'm not terribly upset, the car has almost 170000 miles on it and the pump is original AFAIK. If it was going to break, better during this job than on the highway. So it was probably time for another. Suggestions? Thanks everyone.

Wow, I have a pump in my garage that looks just like that. When reassembling the pump, he failed to get the iq widget and the collar on that shaft aligned correctly. He just tightened the screws on the iq down and it cracked that shaft.

That sucks man. Sorry to see it.

You can remove the pump without jacking the car up or the TB tools. Get cyl1 to TDC, remove TB cover, undo tension on belt, slip of IP sprocket or remove cam sprocket (what I would do). Remove IP. You'll lock everything down prior to reinstalling the TB when you get the IP back.

Good luck.

That's the plunger. Matched fit with the bore in the barrel in the delivery head. It's not the whole shaft that drives the pump. That part is probably one normally replaced in pump rebuild. Send it off for new seals and the broken part. Not the end of the world.

I called DFIS today and talked to someone in the service department (John maybe?) who told me they can't work on it because it's an electronic pump - if it has a wiring harness coming off it they can't even work on it. I was a little stunned, and didnt' know what to say... I though these guys were THE people that could rebuild these pumps. Did I tell them something wrong?

nylonoxygen77 said:

I called DFIS today and talked to someone in the service department (John maybe?) who told me they can't work on it because it's an electronic pump - if it has a wiring harness coming off it they can't even work on it. I was a little stunned, and didnt' know what to say... I though these guys were THE people that could rebuild these pumps. Did I tell them something wrong?

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There must've been some misunderstanding, or you didn't call the right place: http://www.dfispdx.com/index.html ; 503.235.1947. DFIS works on these pumps left, right & center. Call 'em up, ask for Mark or Rod. Tell them it's a VE-E from a VW TDI, they'll know exactly what you mean.

Unfortunately we see this all the time - if the plunger is broke or even nicked you have to take meat off it to get it fixed. Problem is if you take material off then you're going to lose cranking.

In other words the pump is completely toast.

Have you been using high % bio? I'm not used to that discoloration inside IP's - they're usually squeaky clean.

Auto or manual? I'll sell you a pump. I'll even reseal it for you. I'm sorry you didn't see the video. Give me a call or send an email.

runonbeer - manual. I didn't know about the video in your sig, I DEFINITELY would have watched it several times had I known. I did the QA seals last fall and should have done it then. To anyone else considering doing this procedure, watch the video in runonbeer's sig, it may have saved me this headache (and financial headache that will ensue). I will contact you.
scurvy - yes, there was a misunderstanding, that explains it. I googled DFIS and got to wrong company with the same name. Thanks for clearing that up! I called Rod, who said that the pump indeed cannot be rebuilt if the plunger broke. He is looking to see if they have any more plungers and heads.
greengeeker - Yes, both B100 and WVO. I bought this car already converted to run on WVO. The conversion was done very well, from the research I did I could tell that everything was done by a pro GreaseCar installer. After moving closer to work over two years ago, I had no reason to do it anymore. I would honestly never do WVO again, too much of a commitment, and I've recently thought about dismantling the whole system since I don't plan on using it again. The brown discoloration is easy to remove - it's almost like a haze that covers everything, but I never tried to remove all of it.

Last fall, I opened the QA and replaced the seals. There was some kind of gross spongy growth in there - it was stuck to the moving parts under the top cover. Whatever it was, it was very easy to remove. I have pics somewhere. Changing the QA seals and cleaning up the gunk did not help with my starting issues at all, neither did replacing fuel filters and thermostatic tee. They were definitely caused by loss of prime due to degraded head seal and possibly the shaft seal as well. The problems only started after I stopped using B100, but I couldn't use anymore due to cold weather.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions.