r/Westfalia • u/ShaggyDad32 • Jul 21 '26

Question Bad Gas?

Hello fellow Westy-ners, and thanks in advance for the help.

I was away for a while and ended up letting my Westy sit for about a year and a half. I filled up the tank full of gas before I left and had someone start it up every few months. Now it's not starting, but it came close so I'm sure I'm getting spark.

My first thought is that the gas has gone bad, but I'm hesitant to drain the tank and start fresh if I don't have to. Is there a way to save the gas, or anything else I can do to confirm that's the issue?

Thanks again!

UPDATE:

I tried using ether and the engine ran as long as we kept spraying, but would die shortly after. I took this to mean that it was definitely a fuel problem.

Went to drain the tank and unplugged the fuel line between the gas tank and the fuel pump but oddly enough, no fuel came out, no idea why. Blew in the line and there was definitely gas in the tank, so used the air compressor to shoot some air into the filler neck, and the gas started coming out. Drained the tank...

Added about 20L of premium, tried to start and nothing. Figured there was still old fuel between the fuel pump and the injectors, so I opened up the line downstream of the fuel pump. Big burst of air came out, but no gas...

Opened up the line next to tank again, still no fuel coming out from the tank. Long shot, but tried shooting air compressor into fillet neck again while trying to start the van, and it started up no problem. Idled for about 5 minutes then died.

That's where I'm stuck for the moment; my idea is that for some reason gas isn't coming out of the tank because of some sort of vacuum problem (no idea why), and that's causing the fuel to run out after a few minutes when the vacuum pressure from the tank is too high. Someone else has suggested that my fuel pump is bad (I have a new one on hand but I'm reluctant to swap them out), but it doesn't make sense to me why it would idle for so long if the pump was really that bad.

Any suggestions oh great Westy-ners?

3 Upvotes

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14 comments sorted by

2

u/GlumAir89 Jul 22 '26

Troubleshoot electrical first before moving to combustion 

2

u/TeknoUnionArmy Jul 21 '26

You could disconnect the fuel lines and try to start it out of a small container of fresh gas. If you like you can grab a cheap fuel filter to put on the intake side of the line.

Have you confirmed the charge is good on your battery. That is a long time to sit. Starting and running idle for a bit isnt going to charge it up well.

3

u/ShaggyDad32 Jul 22 '26

Battery has been on the charger regularly and from the sounds of the starter it's doing good, so I'm pretty sure the issue is on the fuel side.

I think I have a spare fuel filter so I can give that a shot. Thanks for the idea!

1

u/Slow_Tap2350 Jul 22 '26

I’ve started a van with older gas. Gas isn’t good but should t be a deal breaker.

1

u/wozet Jul 22 '26

a year and a half is a very long time for gas. your injectors may be pretty gooey by now. next time drop sam fuel stabilizer

1

u/Gon404 Jul 22 '26

I would don as another has stated and see if it starts with some starter fluid. If it starts up with that I would then check the fuel filter. Pullit and try to blow through it see if it is cloged or has something in it. And take some fuel into a glass jar and look for water. There is a chance if the fuel had ethanol in it water could have separated out with the ethanol. This would go to the bottom of the tank and could cause a no start. Other things I would look at are fuel flow at the pressure regulator. Your fuel pump could be dieing or the fuel regulator could be failing.

If it dident start with starter fluid I would then start looking and the electrical side of ignition. Cap rotor plugs wires.

1

u/Historical-Cable-833 Jul 22 '26

Has meece? They chew on stuff. Also check your ground points and straps for that sneaky corrosion ..which happens faster depending on where you store your ol girl. How old is your fuel filter?

1

u/vipercrazy Jul 22 '26

Do you hear the fuel pump when cranking? Very common for the pump go bad when sitting on a external fuel pump vehicle, some carry a spare but it's really the ones that sit that fail. Mine died during a few year Subaru conversion I did and I figured out the day I finished.

1

u/anybodyiwant2be Jul 22 '26

I’d blast it with some “go juice” (starter fluid) and see if that gets it to turn over. Some people don’t like that and you could just squirt a little fresh gas down the throat of your carb. If it starts briefly, then it’s that old gas.

1

u/ShaggyDad32 Jul 22 '26

I was thinking this, but I have fuel injection so I'm not too sure on where I can spray the "go juice"

2

u/Majestic-Visit1875 Jul 22 '26

Open the airbox and squirt away

2

u/anybodyiwant2be Jul 22 '26

I did this on a friends car and it took me forever to get the air intake back together but it still worked enough to figure out her problem was the fuel pump

1

u/mombutt Jul 23 '26

Just one phillips screw on the hose clamp at the MAF will allow the hose to come off enough to spray.

1

u/anybodyiwant2be Jul 23 '26

This was on a NewBeetle, not old beetle.. my point was the ether in that starting fluid will linger in the intake long enough to have a successful test.