The injection pump has been sitting for 5 years

[Spokerider]

When I bought the aaz and packed it home, I knew it wasn't going to be a quickly-completed Samurai-diesel project, consequently, the injection pump has been sitting, covered up in my basement for the last 5 years. I did run clean diesel through it with a small 12 fuel pump and made certain that it was full of fuel before storing.

When it comes time to assemble to engine..........just bolt it on and go? or run some fresh diesel with maybe some fuel conditioner like Kleen flo or Sea Foam added? or?

Thanks.

[ORCoaster]

I would be tempted to drain half of what is in there and refill with ATF and let that set for a couple of days.  Then drain it and refill with diesel and run it.  You can add the diesel/atf into the tank and burn it a bit at a time after it is running.

No sense throwing good fuel away. 

[wolf_walker]

I had a pump that sat half full of diesel, pre-ULSD even, sitting at an angle, for at least four years. 
It ran, ran it for a lot of years.  It was always.. Odd.
At some point after 1K miles when the seals started leaking pretty good I pulled it apart and re-sealed it,
and noticed a perfect line with surface rust above the fuel level on the guts and none below, matching the angle it sat at.
I ran a lot of fuel system cleaner, diesel purge, etc, through there over the years.
Still running last time I saw it.  It had 200K or more before the time-out, I put at least another 100K on it.

The moral of the meandering tale is I'd pop the top and see how it looks inside.

[745 turbogreasel]

I might pop a  shaft seal on it while it's off the car.

[damac]

I got a truck last year that sat in a garage for 10 years with almost a full tank of fuel.

Runs off of it, although I did take all the fuel out and run it in my other daily driver for the hell of it.  Didn't notice anything driving with it, but it did kind of smell different.

I had a friend that left a 93 cummins sit outside uncovered for almost the same amount of time.   Every couple of months when at storage he would run it for a bit before leaving.  Ended up taking that thing home a couple years ago and the darn thing ran just as good as he left it.
 
I have also seen in a couple pumps that were stored that although full of old stinky diesel, there was a pattern of sediment that settled depending on the angle.  I live in california so not sure what part climate plays, but I haven't actually come across a pump yet that was rusted inside.  All this buildup I could clean off.

I reseal and clean and runners that I want to keep, but found it interesting that all this buildup was inside the pump and the cars were still running?  Also sticky vanes to some degree.

I have cleaned each one of these up, resealed and all are still in service.

If it was me and I wanted to keep this car I would break it all down and clean and reseal now so you don't have to worry about things.  On these pumps I mentioned buildup, niether diesel kleen, diesel purge or a couple atf soaks were able to completely clean the pump internals.

[wolf_walker]

I've had good luck with heated sonic parts washers using wd40 as a medium or such on non-rust diesel gunk.
There are some rust dissolvers that might do it, I would re-seal after.  Or the vibratory cleaners with some sort of organic
compound for rust removal on delicate parts, have used those as well with good results.

That one rusty one I ran for so long I'm pretty sure it's advance curve was borked, and it was extremely temperature sensitive.
Wear, rust, wear from rust, who knows.  It kept right on popping injectors and turning in mid 40's MPG though.
One of the beauties of VW diesels is they can continue to function reasonably well and reliably in pretty crappy condition. 

[Spokerider]

It's been in my basement, so dry with relatively stable temps. The idea of having it full of diesel is the air [ and condensation ] cant get inside. I have the injectors submerged in clean diesel.

How much work is it to take the pump apart and re seal?  Special tools needed? Cost of the seal kit?

I'm not looking to do any performance mods on this engine, pump included......the Samurai trans won't take the increased HP.

[wolf_walker]

The common leakers are pretty easy, the most fussy part is pulling the top off depending on what style pump it is.
There are a bunch of tutorials online now, if nobody chimes in with one I'll dig something up tonight.
Seal kits on ebay pretty cheap, Genuine Bosch, note the differing size input shaft seals.
Lot easier to do now than later.

[Spokerider]

The common leakers are pretty easy, the most fussy part is pulling the top off depending on what style pump it is.
There are a bunch of tutorials online now, if nobody chimes in with one I'll dig something up tonight.
Seal kits on ebay pretty cheap, Genuine Bosch, note the differing size input shaft seals.
Lot easier to do now than later.

Thank you.
 I'll google the seal changing posts...

[ToddA1]

I'm on the fence about storing pumps filled with diesel.  When the diesel dries out, it tends to get gummy.  I've disassembed and cleaned a pump that this happened to.  Not fun... likely wasn't worth my time in the end.  Algae also likes to grow in diesel.

Maybe I'd feel more comfortable draining the pumps once a year and drawing fresh fuel through them with a vacuum pump.  I've got a few TDI pumps that I don't want getting gummed up.

I'm currently running a pump that was stored full of diesel for about 3 years.  When I drained it, prior to installation, the fuel looked reddish.  Luckily, the car runs fine.  Threw a set of injectors on that were stored wet and capped for about 4 years.  Luckily, no issues. 

ATF tends to swell seals.  The pump may run for a while, but when the seals start shrinking, you have leaks.

I've thought about filling pumps with thin motor oil or even WD-40.  It'd creep into everything, could be easily drained and any residual would just burn.  No evaporation or growth issues, either.

-Todd

[TylerDurden]

WD has aromatics and seems to evaporate into a gummy mess. I have seen it a couple of times in open containers I forgot about.

[ORCoaster]

I have heard a combo of oil and diesel or ATF and diesel combined with good caps and aluminum foil on the check valves and in and out bolts seems to seal them just fine.

You could always fill it with wax and melt it out later.  Any residual will burn and not be a problem.

[wolf_walker]

Neat idea the wax.

I've seen ancient diesel that didn't gum or grow crud.  I've seen it happen in relatively short times too.
I'm not a scientist and don't know what the defining difference in outcome is, but there are no absolutes that
I've seen.  The most simple and good-sense approach, given the cost of a good pump, is probly to put the damn
think in a 5 gallon bucket completely submerged and un-airbubbled of diesel and check it every 6 months.
If I ever store a pump that isn't half worn out already anyway, I'll do that.

[ToddA1]

I wasn't aware that WD40 breaks down like that... good info.

How how would you need to get the pump to melt wax out?  I'd be afraid of damaging seals.

I've coated the internals with petroleum jelly, in the past.  I still have a pump sitting on the shelf that this was done to.  I've also read that the petroleum jelly can make the vanes stick and it can be tough to get the pump to start pumping.  It'll eventually wash away, but the initial start may be tough.

-Todd

[ORCoaster]

I think you could melt the wax out of a pump sitting in a warm oven set at 100 degrees, maybe 120 due the metal mass.  Still well within the underhood temps don't you think. 

I haven't experienced the vane stick using Vaseline.  First I heard it would.  I thought it was mostly some sort of wax actually.  Petro jelly might be a trade secret.  Might bear looking into the ingredients label.  MSDS? 

5 gallon bucket?  At the current price of diesel that is 20 bucks. How about a one gallon one and set it on end?  2 gallon perhaps.
Just being cheap and short of storage space is my problem.   Well, one of them.