Drained Water separator, now it runs real rough and dies...

[Matteo]

Volks,
I spent the day correcting problems with belts my mechanic HAD to see, but chose not to fix. Still charged me $800 for the timing, water pump, valve cover bolt and gasket and all new belts. Alternator belt squeelled like a pig, figured out that he broke the head of the adjuster bolt. Outed the remainder of the bolt and replaced this morning. No more belts squeeling. So I thought, OK, I will drain the water separator. What came out smelled like turpentine and not diesel. About a quart or liquid. So I plug it back up, and try to drive it. Go about two blocks and the thing loses all power, shakes horribly and only will run for about 60 seconds. Owner manual says if a lot of water comes out of the separator to bring it to a VW dealer. Fat chance of that happening!!! I am thinking that either I have air or water in my lines. Car is a 1990 Jetta CL 1.6. I there an easy fix for this like bleeding the fuel system or something? HELP I need to get to work!
Thanks,

Matt

[the caveman]

sounds like you may have cracked the drain valve. i would carefully check that.

[Op-Ivy]

sounds like you may have cracked the drain valve. i would carefully check that.

X2. Either that or you have a lot of air in there still. Hard to say. Check your lines thoroughly!

[jtanguay]

you need to clean the rubber gasket and mating surfaces when putting the drain cap back on.  otherwise that will be a good source of leaks.  if the gasket is cracked/brittle it might not even seal anymore, so you'd have to replace it.

sounds like that is the problem.  as for the turpentine smell, not sure whats going on there, but new ULSD smells a little bit like it, especially if you use additives.  (power service smells a bit like it)

[madmedix]

Why don't you just delete it? There's a drain on the fuel filter and if you drain that every few tanks you'll be okay. VW never used them again after the MK 2's anyway. Mine was being slowly blasted to death by road debris (highway car) and I pulled it. If you're buying quality fuel, you should be ok.

Andy

[Matteo]

Why on earth did I not think of this? This is a great idea!
Deleting the dang thing is a perfect solution. I can drain from the fuel filter.
I was about to start pricing out OEM water separators. I can only imagine what VOA wants for one of these.

On another note, I am heading out to Victoria BC for my annual trip to that beautiful island. Once again, I will be surrounded by MANY lovely VW's and people. Once again, I will ask myself why do I not live up there. Once again, I will come home, life will overtake me and I will just dream about it for another year.

Can't wait, and I got a date with a nice Canadian girl. Doesn't get any better than that...

Unless of course, I get my water separator issue solved, and maybe even fix the AC.

Ciao folks and thanks for the suggestions!

Matt

[jtanguay]

Why on earth did I not think of this? This is a great idea!
Deleting the dang thing is a perfect solution. I can drain from the fuel filter.
I was about to start pricing out OEM water separators. I can only imagine what VOA wants for one of these.

On another note, I am heading out to Victoria BC for my annual trip to that beautiful island. Once again, I will be surrounded by MANY lovely VW's and people. Once again, I will ask myself why do I not live up there. Once again, I will come home, life will overtake me and I will just dream about it for another year.

Can't wait, and I got a date with a nice Canadian girl. Doesn't get any better than that...

Unless of course, I get my water separator issue solved, and maybe even fix the AC.

Ciao folks and thanks for the suggestions!

Matt

to fix the a/c check out Duracool or RedTek.  i think both sell sealants.  if you're having specific issues pm me and i might be able to help... i've gone through fixing my system and learned quite a bit.  (new o-rings, receiver drier, condensor, etc)

and if you'll believe it, theres a way of vacuuming your a/c system using your cars vacuum pump  :lol:

[Matteo]

Hi Volks,
I am about to eliminate the water separator. However, It looks like there is a third tube coming out of it and going back towards the gas tank.

I was just going to snip off the feed from the tank and the forward gas line and connect with a brass connector and some clamps. I have the right fuel line rated for bio.

So my question is, if I leave the tank there with the gas line plugged off, will this be a problem? What is that third thinner line going to the separator.
Do I need it? Is it a return line or something?

I intend to eliminate the water separator tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your input,

Matt

[burn_your_money]

I don't recall a third line when I deleted mine. It could be the electrical connection. It will power up the glow plug light if it detects water in the seperator. I just snipped them at different lengths so they couldn't contact each other and let them be.

[Matteo]

Thanks folks, I eliminated the water separator forward of gas tank. Drained a bit of gas from the tank and an earwig came out. I suspect more crud in tank, but no time to flush. Soooo, I want to put an inline filter for larger 100 micron before fuel filter. Incidently, I changed the new fuel filter with another new fuel filter and engine came back to life. Drove 60 miles to work. Nice! Now will try the ride home and hope no more crud in gas lines. Primed into a remote tank with facet fuel pump. Worked great.

[burn_your_money]

Glad to hear you were successful. Was there a third line or was it the wires?

[Matteo]

I left the wire hooked up. At least I think it's a wire and not a fuel return. I am going to plug the fuel feed and return to the separator.