Help. Unable to siphon gas from tank to change transfer pump

Hi,
I think my fuel transfer pump is dead in the '85 Golf. I have a
replacement pump. Unfortunately, I filled the gas tank just before the
transfer pump died. I understand the tank has to be 3/4 or less full
otherwise when I take out pump assembly, fuel will pour out.

I bought a $4 spihon hose with squeeze bulb, but can't seem to get it
too far down the filler neck. And the siphon doesn't work worth beans
filling the hose with gas to start the siphoning.

Searching the Internet, seems cars have a ball float that in the
event of an accident and the car is upside down, the ball stops fuel
from spilling out. The side-benefit (a problem in my case) is it
prevents a siphon hose from being inserted into the tank. Is this the
case in the '85? Should I try a thinner tube? Current vinyl hose has a
1 cm inside diam.

Any suggestions on how I can reduce the volume of gas in the tank?
I'm not sure the car is drivable so can't even take it to a shop to
have tank removed and drained. And if it'll start, it's too unrealiable
in its current state to drive around to burn off the fuel. And I don't
want to spill the fuel all over the ground--there's no way I can catch
it all for disposal.

Thanks.

-Tony.

The engine will run with a faulty transfer pump... so just drive the car for
about 100 miles or until the main pump gets noisy.

"tonyw" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi,
> I think my fuel transfer pump is dead in the '85 Golf. I have a
> replacement pump. Unfortunately, I filled the gas tank just before the
> transfer pump died. I understand the tank has to be 3/4 or less full
> otherwise when I take out pump assembly, fuel will pour out.
>
> I bought a $4 spihon hose with squeeze bulb, but can't seem to get it
> too far down the filler neck. And the siphon doesn't work worth beans
> filling the hose with gas to start the siphoning.
>
> Searching the Internet, seems cars have a ball float that in the
> event of an accident and the car is upside down, the ball stops fuel
> from spilling out. The side-benefit (a problem in my case) is it
> prevents a siphon hose from being inserted into the tank. Is this the
> case in the '85? Should I try a thinner tube? Current vinyl hose has a
> 1 cm inside diam.
>
> Any suggestions on how I can reduce the volume of gas in the tank?
> I'm not sure the car is drivable so can't even take it to a shop to
> have tank removed and drained. And if it'll start, it's too unrealiable
> in its current state to drive around to burn off the fuel. And I don't
> want to spill the fuel all over the ground--there's no way I can catch
> it all for disposal.
>
> Thanks.
>
> -Tony.
>

In rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled, tonyw wrote:

> Any suggestions on how I can reduce the volume of gas in the tank?
>I'm not sure the car is drivable so can't even take it to a shop to
>have tank removed and drained. And if it'll start, it's too unrealiable
>in its current state to drive around to burn off the fuel. And I don't
>want to spill the fuel all over the ground--there's no way I can catch
>it all for disposal.

Just idle for a few hours?

Thanks for the tips. I was reluctant to drive it around to burn off
fuel in case it conked out on me again. The engine has been stalling
out, mostly at lower RPMs, such as when rolling up to a stop light.
After letting it sit for 5-15 minutes, it would restart and run fine. I
wasn't sure it would run long enough to burn off fuel.

After my email today, I perservered with the siphon and various tubing.
It took about 2 hours but I managed to siphon out 20 Litres of fuel a
few millilitres at a time, enough to crack open the top of the fuel
tank without a spill.

Anyways the job is done. I replaced the transfer pump and the fuel
filter. After a couple of tries, the car started and idled fine. I'm
going to test drive it around the neighbourhood next (so it won't be
too far to push it home).

In other attempts to solve the stalling problem I have changed the fuel
pump relay and freshened up the 2 grounds on the engine block about a
month ago. I thought I had it licked. But the stalling reappeard a
month later. Usually we could let it sit for 5-15 minutes and it would
start again and it would run fine for days. This last time (Tuesday
night) after sitting for 2 hours, it wouldn't start at all, tried
cranking it periodically over a 45 minute period. BCAA kindly towed it
home. So I thought I'd try replacing the pump today.

Any other thoughts would be much appreciated? It's a well maintained
'85 Golf, single owner.
Thanks again for your help. -Tony

Update: went for a test drive. I think I heard 2 fuel pumps whirring
this time when I turned the key!! I think I had only been hearing the
main pump whirring with the old transfer pump in place. Is that just my
imagination and wishful thinking? I really wish I could solve this
stalling problem, it's worrisome when the family is in the car and it
can stall without any warning.