81 Rabbit crawls and then sputters to a stop

[burn_your_money]

Yeah it's just like Lucas said. How much fuel do you have in the tank right now?
Use a bright light and shine it in there to assess the condition of the tank.

I believe that when you remove the sender the pre-filter stays at the bottom of the tank you you need to use an extra long pair of needle nose pliers to remove it.

Have a plastic bag or pail handy to put the sender in when you pull it out.

[tkisling]

I got the sender off and saw that there was a cylindrical shaped filter sitting in the tank. it was just laying off to the side inside the top portion of the tank.

[tkisling]

Does the filter slide into the circular hole on the black opening in the tank?

[burn_your_money]

I've never pulled the screen out so I don't know. Try in the mk1 forums on vwvortex.com

[rs899]

Yes, the filter just slides down into that black hole and seats somehow.  This assumes that the diesel is like my old Cabriolet (which it seems to be).  Is the tank rusty?  Is there a lot of mung in the tank?  The gasser tanks are notorious for rusting  (mine did) , not sure about the diesels.  You can buy a replacement Taiwanese one for not too much money, considering the problems a rusty one would cause you.

[tkisling]

I got the car running so now i just need to put the sending unit in an the back seat needs to be installed. In my haste to install the fuel sending unit I lost the o ring inside the tank. Hopefully i can find a new one that fits.

[Baron VonZeppelin]

If you can't source one locally,
I think autohausaz.com sells them.
They have them for my rabbitruck.
Their listing will sometimes give the dimensions of an o-ring, which might help you to source one locally.

Don't fill it much more than 1/3 - fuel is probly going to slosh enough to spill/seep out of the top until you get an o-ring.

[tkisling]

I bought an o ring at NAPA that pretty much fit. I installed it with the sender so hopefully everything fits and works.