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Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:52 pm

Coming home from work and getting on an offramp, I smelled gas. Thats not too unusual since the bug smells of gas after I fill up. But, this was well into the day and I just went by a gas station. Well, just as I thought of how sad it would be to see my bug go up in flames...it went into convulsions and sputtered, strained but couldn't run on its own. The engine was not powering the wheels. The wheels were powering the engine. Specifically, the fuel pump.
I stomped on the clutch, turned the power off and cut across two lanes of traffic with the momentum i had left.
What I saw next made me shudder.... I got out, went to the back, lifted the lid and saw gas dripping from the inside of my lid. The hose from the carb was intact and attached to the fittings on both the carb and the pump.
The fitting coming out of the pump (a pressed in fitting ) had infact worked its way out of the housing. (its a rebuildable fuel pump that I will never buy again)
I let the engine vent, plugged the hole, let the gas evaporate and walked home...happy it survived.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:30 pm

The rebuildable pump is the best kind of pump to get. Unless its that mexican crap. Besides its german. Just get your self a little bit of jb weld. JUST A LITTLE BIT. And it wont come out anymore. I had one on a 40 horse and it worked great after I did that. Or you could use a tap and die and make it to where you can thread it in and use pipe dope or teflon tape.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:08 pm

Like Endicott jb said, JB weld works great. Also try tugging on the fitting at the carb. Those often will come out of the carb with just a light tug. Apply a thin film of JB weld to any fitting that comes out and push it back in - that holds it great.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:59 am

glad to hear you and your bug survived. i hope you also carry a fire extinguisher with you.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 4:53 am

I've seen a picture on here (somewhere) of a carb fitting that had safety wire from the hose clamp on the fitting to one of the screws on top of the carb. That'll keep it from coming out.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:46 am

From the gallery....

Make sure you do not have a fuel filter that is adding mass to the fuel line between the pump and the carb and use better clamps than this guy did.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:00 pm

Thanks for all the advice...I used JB weld as I had some in my toolbox and put a lite coat on both fittings. So far so good. oh, yes, I do NOW have an extinguisher. 2 actually.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:18 pm

The fitting needs to be burred slightly then a drop of red loc-tite or JB Weld THEN peened in 4 places. Do not trust JB weld alone. Do this to the carb fitting too.

Fri Oct 24, 2008 7:33 pm

Thanks. I did sand the fitting before I put jb on it. As far as "peening" it, I'm not sure how to do that. I guess a punch and mallet?