Shurflo faucet troubleshooting

[69diamondblueT1]

Good morning all! I have a 1987 Westy (Canadian) and just installed the Shurflo faucet upgrade from GoWesty. As soon as I connect the wires to the OG VW harness leads that go to the pump, the pump turns on no matter what the position of the faucet switch. I tried reversing the wire connections, same issue. I hooked a multi-meter up to the faucet and no matter what position I rotate the switch on the faucet, the meter reads 0 ohms resistance; continuity never is broken by the switch. I'm guessing that I may have just received a faulty faucet but want to make sure that I didn't miss anything. My Westy has a below cabinet pump (not submerged). I appreciate any help that you can provide. Thanks!
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1962 Beetle "Bucky" bone stock
1987 Westy "Dharma"
Past projects
1955 Beetle "Bridgette" RIP!!
1969 Beetle “Genevieve” resto-mod California
1974 Tin top camper “Molly” stock resto

[MarkWard]

It does sound defective. As a test, you could disconnect the faucet wires and see if you can operate the pump touching the 2 wires together. I’ve never really paid attention to the valve enough to notice if there was a click at the off point.

[kamzcab86]

[jimf909]

^^^ True. I clearly hear an audible snap or click when turning the knob to switch the pump (I just double checked). The click is the contact snapping from open to close or vice versus.

Here's a thread on dissecting it but if twisting the knob doesn't do it, it sounds defective.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=704908

[69diamondblueT1]

thanks for the tips all. I tested connecting the two wires from the pump together with a quick jumper and, yes, it engages the pump. I also can hear the audible click in the shur-flo, but there's still continuity no matter which position the dial is in, fully off, fully on, throughout the whole rotation. I tested the Delta-six and it breaks continuity as it is supposed to when its in the off position. Never had a problem with the delta-six other than the tip of the fitting that the water hose attaches to being cracked which is why I am replacing it.
Amazon sells the same faucet and under its 2 star reviews, someone had the same issue; switch clicked, but pump was constantly on. They disassembled the faucet and found that the wires had been soldered together during production. I emailed GoWesty tech support and am hoping that they send me another one. They have awesome customer support and always seem to resolve any questions that I've had with their products.
_________________
1962 Beetle "Bucky" bone stock
1987 Westy "Dharma"
Past projects
1955 Beetle "Bridgette" RIP!!
1969 Beetle “Genevieve” resto-mod California
1974 Tin top camper “Molly” stock resto

[danielheff]

After a few months of my faucet having intermittent issues (would only engage the pump after vigorous jiggling) it finally stopped all together. I temporarily rigged the yellow wires for the pump to a switch to still be able to use the tank but this was not the ideal setup. I think this has been mentioned before, but adding a relay to deliver power to the pump solved the problem immediately. I didn’t replace the pump, just grounded one wire from the pump and ran the other wire to the relay. I like switching a ground wire through the faucet rather than having 12v+ always live in the switch handle. I still need to clean up wiring, but there’s all kinds of room for gadgets under the sink and behind the top drawer.

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'70 Squareback 1835cc
'85 Vanagon GL Camper, EJ22, Peloquin Diff, Burley rear disc brakes, SC big front brakes, Espar D2L, 250ah Lifepo4
'85.5 944 NA

[harvgwen]

I did the same on mine, at the advice of someone else on this forum. It’s also worked great ever since.
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[Bill D]

I'm having the same problem with my Shurflo faucet... would appreciate if you could give me specific directions on how to perform the 'relay trick'... Like what relay and which terminals on the relay get hooked to which wires???

Thanks
Bill

[harvgwen]

You want to connect your main power wire for your pump to pin 30 of the relay. (4 pin relay is good). Then connect a same (or heavier) wire to pin 87 of the relay, and connect it to the pump. This is your pump power. The pump ground will be unchanged. There are 2 ways you could connect your faucet across the other 2 pins of the relay. I’ll suggest you piggyback a faucet wire to your pin 30 connection. This wire goes to your faucet (switch). The other wire coming from your faucet will get connected to relay pin 86. Then to complete your circuit, connect a wire to relay pin 85 and connect the other end of that wire to ground. This way the main power for the pump doesn’t pass through the faucet switch. I suspect that my explanation isn’t terribly good. I’m not a teacher.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmiqUZ0sRt4

Or google “how to connect a 4 pin relay”
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[Bill D]

Thanks for the relay tutorial HarvGwen... I have much experience with relays... wondering if those terminal numbers you gave are the same for all relays??? Or are those unique to the VW/Vanagon world relays? Any particular brand of relay?
thanks,
Bill

[Bill D]

Er... also... when you say after the relay solution you Shurflow has worked ever since, how long would that be? Months, years?

thanks again,
Bill

[harvgwen]

Relay numbers are standard.
_________________
1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[harvgwen]

At least a year. It might be two years.
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

[Bill D]

Ok.. HarvGwen... out in the garage with faucet and relay and trying to follow your directions...
Questions:
1) "connect your main power wire for your pump to pin 30" So, that's one of the two yellow wires that the original faucet connected to, right? The one what meters 12v right?
2) "Then connect a same (or heavier) wire to pin 87..." So, that's the other yellow wire?
3) Faucet wires... So, one goes to pin 30 and the other to pin 86, right?
But... if the purpose of doing this relay to not be passing the full amperage draw of the pump thru the faucet switch, is this right to be connecting the faucet wire to pin 30 where the main power wire for the pump is also located???

I'm a bit confused...
Thanks,
Bill

[dabaron]

just added a relay and mine is working great

_________________
1991 Vanagon GL Camper
i had no idea i wanted to be a mechanic

[Bill D]

Thanks for the wiring schematic... that helps a lot !
Also watched a YouTube video explaining relays... helpful also.
One thing I don't understand is why the 85-86 pathway does not draw the same amount of amps as the 30 - 87 path? Guess that maybe it's just the resistance of the very small coil wire? or is there and actual resistor built into relays?

thanks,
Bill

[crazyvwvanman]

The main reason is the total length of the very thin coil wire inside the relay is very long.
The resistance of the coil wire is small but when you multiply it by the total length it becomes much larger and this limits the current flow.

If you find the specs of a relay one of the specs is the total resistance of the long coil winding.

Mark

[Timwhy]

Has anyone tried this German faucet as a replacement to the Shurflo?

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-connection-Camperv...-3-catcorr
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'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[MsTaboo]

[harvgwen]

Bill, the reason for the high current draw through 30 to 87 is because it powers the pump. Whatever current the pump draws flows through the relay from 30 to 87. The high current no longer runs through your Shur Flo switch. The low current draw in the 85 to 86 part of the relay is the small amount of current needed to pull the relay switch to the closed position. That small current is what now flows through your Shur Flo switch. The Shur Flo switch isn’t robust enough for the high current that the pump needs. The relay now becomes the switch for the pump. The relay is made to take the higher current.
The wiring diagram provided above is very similar to what I suggested, except that I had the Shur Flo switch on the positive side of the relay. The diagram has it on the negative side. It will work the same.
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1986 Westfalia Vanagon, 2.2 Subaru
Okanagan Valley, British Columbia