Any advice appreciated.
I might get an 81 caddy w/1.6 eco turbo diesel. 80K ish miles with paperwork.
It has a leaking fuel pump and drips but I may try to drive as is. Owner says can't smell fuel in cab.
I have rebuild kit for 81 na pump and I read it's good for all 1.6 and 1.9 pumps (amazing. Got to love vw)
Any food for thought.
I would say that if the leaks are not causing it to draw air into the IP and make it hard to start or run poorly then You should be safe to buy it, drive it and fix it right away.
Once it is running can you see leakage on the front or back or down the sides? The Rabbit I purchased in 2010 started right up after sitting a few weeks and then as it ran I could see a steady drip coming off the pump but really didn't isolate the location. It ran fine but I just didn't care for a constant drip going on in the street in front of the house. So I ordered a kit and fixed it.
Besides diesel in the engine bay is hard on hoses and wires if not oil resistant. And it will smell when turned off and hot.
Thanks. Good reasons to fix it.
How long did it take you to rebuild it pump? Or just change gaskets.
It took me two afternoons to make it right. I would have saved time if I would have done some homework first on how it comes apart. I foolishly assumed that if it runs horizontally then it should come apart the same. That had all the innards spilling across the work bench when I slid the back of the head off. It needs to stand upright in a vise with its nose to the floor to keep all the parts from spilling out.
Plenty of videos on line, do a search for Bosch pump rebuild. Look at several and get a good sense of what needs to come out and how. There are some pictorials of how to get a pump apart as well. Might even be one in the forum archives here.
Just don't be in a hurry or pressed for time. You can't work well under pressure and do a good job the first couple of times around. There are little parts that only go in one way and buy some petroleum jelly so you can get parts to stick in place as you assemble it vertically. The jelly melts in diesel and is good for the injectors.