I rather push a VW than drive a Honda!!

Edit: Yes the injection pump is self priming but you might run down the battery or fry the starter before you get the engine to start if you're that dry. The best way to restart it is to manually use suction at the return fuel line at the injection pump (engine) to draw fuel all the way through the lines. Don't keep cranking if you have no fuel since it just sucks in more air.

If you want to see your max range, drive until almost empty. Open the top of the fuel tank. It's in the back, it looks like a little port. Remove the fuel level sender. Suck out all the fuel in there and then measure it. Use the same pump so that the calibration will be the same and you know how much fuel you are getting.


Modified by chittychittybangbang at 6:22 PM 5-27-2008

To figure out your mpg, do the following:
-Fill tank to the very top, or first click on pump (has to be roughly the same on every fill-up)
-Reset your trip odometer
-Drive until you need to fuel up
-Fill tank to the same spot as previous
-Note miles driven and gallons of fuel added, then just do your calculations

(I have tanks, in the MKV Jetta, of 48 MPG, and 31 MPG, and overall 36 MPG, I do a lot of City driving. If you travel 500 miles on the Highway, your spreadsheet will reflect the good MPG, if you drive consistently in the City, then you will eventually see your true City MPG.)

My B5.5, 2.0L Passat is very religious at 30MPG in the city, and 40MPG on the highway, and how I fill that beast does not play into the picture.

Just don't run it dry, take the overall average.

Quote, originally posted by MDTurborocco »

roughly 750 miles out of my first tank not bad Did I hear a quart of atf is good for the injection pump??

1 oz ATF (or 2 stroke motor oil) to 1 gallon of diesel is the general rule..

It is clean and not full of carbon particles that can score your injectors at their high pressure. especially for like tdi pressure.

This is off topic but carbon particles may not be as bad as stated and last I heard, graphite is a good lubricant. Check out the following site:

http://www.embedded.com/story/OEG20010618S0078

Otherwise Google Cummins Centinel.

Modified by Tinker Toy at 11:42 PM 5-24-2008

Additionally, the IP has an internal reservoir that holds enough fuel to lubricate the pump but not enough to push to the injectors, so running out of fuel won't draw all the fuel out of the IP.

It's preferable never to run out of fuel. The only priming you want to have to do on a diesel is when you change the fuel filter.

Gir - You're on fire!
Zim - Am I?

yeah, i've got to hold my pedal down a good bit to get it started as well... any idea why that is ? why wont it just start up, my diesel truck does. lol

As soon as you feel the engine losing power, the pump is sucking air. Immediately stop the car, refuel and the pump should prime instantly.

Don't keep trying to start the car without refueling because the more air that enters the system the harder the car will be to restart.

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/environment/energy/

In theory, the injection pump is self priming, but many people have found from experience, that this is not always the case. Just try putting a new fuel filter on the car totally empty, and see what happens.

My GF was driving us home one night, she woke me up at 1am to say we had run out of fuel. We were about 2 miles from the Blanford service station on I90, about halfway between exit 2 & 3. We called AAA and waited. The truck showed up finally and the driver dumped in 5 gallons of Diesel. I didn't have a funnel or other convenient way to pre-fill the filter, nor a vacuum pump to draw fuel to the IP. After cranking until the battery started dying, the car still wouldn't start. The driver refused to tow us and leave us at the next service area, but took us 20 miles back to exit 2 in Lee, and dropped the car at the truck stop, which was all but deserted. Since the battery was pretty weak at this point, the clerk helped to jump start the car. The cables were only hooked up for 30 seconds and it fired right up.

So the self-priming fuel pump is sort of self-priming, eventually.