road side repair. inside tank fuel pump.

[Theiceman]

Yup you read that right .. and here comes the story .
so as some of you know I've had a highly intermittent fueling problem in my car. I don't drive it a ton, but every year or so the car just died and won't restart,, leave it an hour and it will restart fine and you are good for another year ...
well last time it happened I got it to set a code, fuel pump, mechanical failure. so it restarted eventualy and it's been good for the last year. but I did manage to score a pump assembly a month ago at a good price from a wrecked car. fast forward to today
I had nothing going on so decided I would look at the pump . that ring is a total pig to get off, even if you have the right tool it's still a pain. so I just use a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer. after an hour I got it go move about I inch . I thought okay . I have it moving. I will leave it at that as I still have half a tank. I will wait till it's almost empty. buggered up a lot of the ring and will likely need to order a new one and a seal anyway
so tonight at about 630 I decided to go see my buddies and took the Audi to start using some gas. I made it about a km from my house and it straight died could not restart it. so whatever was Intermittent I had now completely broken in the fuel pump. not to worry .
I thought well now my car is on the street off to the side, no danger but I can't leave it there overnight

so I ran home , got my pump, a hammer , screwdriver, a few rags. fortunately the back seat was out.
buggered around for another hour sweating and straining but got the ring to release .. great . started to undo it and sure enough gas started pouring out .... damn . quickly did it back up .

ran home got an empty gas container some hose and a hand pump I have. fortunately with wrenching for 40 years there isn't many tools I don't have.

got about 3 gallons out before trying to do the ring again this time it unscrewed without spilling gas.
I started to pull up the pump and saw the problem immediately . the filter had become detached from the pump assembly and was floating free. had probably become detached from me hammering on the ring. I clipped it back and it was solid there was no way I detached this from the pump by hammering the ring this was never attached properly right from the factory. this has been the problem all along occasionally pulling air, more on that later.. so I decided to put my replacement assembly in anyway as it has 100,000 less km on it.
fired up with what little battery power I had left after the car trying to start the car previously
more work to do but I am running and got the car home. ring isn't completely tight because I have to go back in and need some help
there was a wiring harness that ran Into the tank with a clip on it to keep it secure to the assembly, I took it off the old one by reaching around but wasn't sure exactly how it clipped in, if someone knows that would be great. I was running out of light so had to just get the car home and left it dangling in the tank. when I got the car home, I could see gas was pouring out ( ring was 1/4 turn from being in its original location) ..moved it another inch and leaking apears to have stopped.
current plan is to run the tank empty, find out where the harness clips, and fix that, then put it back together with a new ring and seal.
quite the 90 minute adventure.

so when I got the car home, I tried for the life of me to "unclip" the filter the way I found it in the tank, no friggen way, you would need two flat blade screwdrivers and 3 hands I am 1000% sure that was not installed properly from the factory.

has to be one of my better road side fixes. lol



allmost got it tucked in enough. too close to leave overnight for my comfort level.

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[Smac770]

:-) Yeah, you need the fuel level pretty low (under 1/4 tank) as the rear of the tank is actually above the fuel pump opening, for quattro. That's why it needs two different fuel level senders, because the one on the fuel pump at max height is only reading around 5/8 of the tank volume.

The B8.5 three-phase pump is by VDO, and the filter is not considered a separately replaceable part. Whether or not you can source the filter from Continental (who know owns VDO) and actually replace it non-destructively, I have no idea.

The pump p/n for you, since you have the CAE engine and not the flex CPM engine, is 8K0919051AJ, now 8K0919051AS. Didn't find any really great pictures, but a third-party unit with two decent pics, might sort your harness query with that:
https://www.amazon.com/8K0919051AJ-8.../dp/B0CPCT54SQ

But just remember, all progress requires sacrifice. And at least you got useful progress from this sacrifice, rather than "a learning opportunity".

[Theiceman]

:-) Yeah, you need the fuel level pretty low (under 1/4 tank) as the rear of the tank is actually above the fuel pump opening, for quattro. That's why it needs two different fuel level senders, because the one on the fuel pump at max height is only reading around 5/8 of the tank volume.

The B8.5 three-phase pump is by VDO, and the filter is not considered a separately replaceable part. Whether or not you can source the filter from Continental (who know owns VDO) and actually replace it non-destructively, I have no idea.

The pump p/n for you, since you have the CAE engine and not the flex CPM engine, is 8K0919051AJ, now 8K0919051AS. Didn't find any really great pictures, but a third-party unit with two decent pics, might sort your harness query with that:
https://www.amazon.com/8K0919051AJ-8.../dp/B0CPCT54SQ

But just remember, all progress requires sacrifice. And at least you got useful progress from this sacrifice, rather than "a learning opportunity".

yeah im all good, my replacement is fine .. the only real help i need is if someone knows where the black clip on the second sensor harness clips onto the pump assembly. to keep it from tangling with float that would be great .. the coupl eof YouTube i have watched the guy just throws it in the tank on the wire without clipping it , and i have a tendency to do thing properly or it will irritate me .

oh another odd fact , totally unrelated but thought it cool ..

as i am sitting at the side of the road trying to get it to start i noticed the odometer....
240,000km right on the money ... maybe car was reminding me to do the oil change lol.



this is the clip i would like to know where it goes. Courtesy of youtube, this guy just threw it in the tank unclipped and said it was useless.

I have a manual for the B8 , but i think this is an 8.5 specific piece if anyone can tell me where it goes

Thanks

[Theiceman]

okay to put a wrap on this thread for future readers.

The wiring that goes down into the tank from the fuel pump assembly does fasten to the assembly by a clip on the 8.5 , this is to stop the wires getting tangled in the level sense arm

I have posted the pic of where it goes below.

.

In putting it back together i was supposed to replace the ring and seal . I reused the old and will order one with my regular parts shipment.

I had to use a hammer and chisel to get the ring on ( huge pain in the ass. ) and i busted up most of the old ring anyway. I might try and get the proper tool if i redo it but i've heard that isn't much better.

I almost got the ring back to its original position but not quite .. I tested it with 2/3 of a tank and no smell of gas or visible leak so i will go with it.

Just remember if you do this repair you will need new plastic clip for the rear seat ( cheap on aliexpress )

[WHT13AR]

For the plastic seal rings, heat them up a bit, toaster oven or light heat gun, then install. Did this on my Excursion and it worked well.

[Theiceman]

For the plastic seal rings, heat them up a bit, toaster oven or light heat gun, then install. Did this on my Excursion and it worked well.

ohh that would have been a good tip ...

think ill bang it off and try again .. NOT !!!!

actually this is way easier with a helper.. doing it on your own is a bear..
the pump actually compresses on a spring as you push it in, so keeping the pump down and keyed in the right location while trying to engage and turn in that locking ring is a bit of a job.

[RPMtech147]

Still easier than dropping the tank. I had a 2000 something Chevy Tahoe. That POS had to be towed 1/2 a dozen times in the short time I had it. Relatively low mileage. I had to start a new job on the coming up Monday, and when I went to the storage unit to get my tool box out and moved to my new shop, the piece of shit barely started and just barely made it back to the apartment. I had to change the pump on my back, at night, in the parking lot. Oh, I was fuming. I sold that POS the next weekend.

[Theiceman]

Still easier than dropping the tank. I had a 2000 something Chevy Tahoe. That POS had to be towed 1/2 a dozen times in the short time I had it. Relatively low mileage. I had to start a new job on the coming up Monday, and when I went to the storage unit to get my tool box out and moved to my new shop, the piece of shit barely started and just barely made it back to the apartment. I had to change the pump on my back, at night, in the parking lot. Oh, I was fuming. I sold that POS the next weekend.

you are a better man than me .. i would have likely set fire to it .. not for insurance or anything , just for the satisfaction.
Glad to report car seems to be running fine with no smells of gas fumes or anything. I think we are good to go !!!