Astra diesel fuel pump removal

If they are rebuilding the pump anyway, then he has simply saved them the job of dismantling it.

I think (though I am not certain) it is a thin paper gasket. If I am correct, then you will have to rip the gasket to remove it, which is why I suggested sealant to reasemble, as you will not be able to fit a new gasket. If, however, it is an O ring, then you should be able to fit a new one by streching it over the block to get it into place, so making the job even easier.

Bosch produce a wide range of books telling you exactly how the pumps work.

Well it is a pretty well known fact that since the introduction of low sulphur diesel fuel, there has been a problem with the cam plate breaking up on VE pumps.

Yep, cos if you're given a box of bits you throw it in the recycling bin & charge for a reconditioned one.

Something like

Which is fine, but if you're repairing them commercially you have the the adapters to let you set the internal pressures & the fuel metering system to let you set the pump up, they're suffeciently expensive that even though I know how to use them it wouldn't occur to me to try & reset a pump on a DIY basis. & if you've not timed it up right then it'll cost you more in fuel than you'll ever save.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Huw" saying something like:

Really? You must get in touch with the HGV fleet owners who were faced with costs of thousands of pounds for pump repair and replacement after the introduction of ULSD and tell them they were totally wrong.

After all, none of yours were affected, so it must be true.

It's a load of bull. All problems were already sorted by the time it was introduced to most of Europe including the UK because it had been around in Scandinavia for some time. They did find early on that the lubricity was insufficient and standards were quickly set to offset this, certainly before it appeared in the UK. Injector pumps do fail but it is nice to be able to blame it on something. High pressure rotary pumps are less reliable than lower pressure ones and in-line pumps are very robust generally. I personally run over 30 diesel engines at any one time, some with less than optimal servicing. It so happens that I am very involved with a dealer park of many hundreds of medium diesels of mainly 2litre to 8.2litre engines with a mixture of pump types and ages from the late 1950's to latest common rail. Some are used with ULSD and some with slightly higher sulphur red diesel. It is remarkable how few pumps need any unscheduled maintenance or repairs generally. By far the majority of pump problems are caused by water pollution with a sprinkling of spoilt VP30 type pumps seized due to dry running for a few moments, usually due to running out of fuel and using incorrect procedure during restarting.

There was no different rate of failure even when LSD was introduced some six years ago AFAICS. Maybe a pump repair specialist doing several hundred units per year could identify a bleep but it was not something to worry about then and it certainly is not now.

Huw

The main thing I really would like to know, is where can I obtain the 'correct' type of sprocket puller which will enable me to remove it from the car?

Thanks Duncan I might well be interested, as I've located a pump at a 'fairly' local scrapyard (they want £60 for it) if I do go down that road, let's pray that after all the hassle of removal and fitting that it's better than the existing one!

If it's a scrap motor it's easier to "modify" the car to get the old one out :-) IIRC you can make a normal puller fit by shortening the centre shaft with a grinder & using short allen bolts as the attachments.

According to the Haynes manual, unless one is careful in marking their original positions disturbing the three existing bolts on the sprocket (to fit a puller) can mean that the fuel pump will have to be re-timed, which involves using a DTI tool with an extra-long probe.

Something I don't wish to get involved with, so if I can obtain a pump with its original (undisturbed) sprocket, then it will make things a whole lot easier.

That's the case. Retiming isn't massively difficult though & any decent diesel specialist won't charge much to do it on the car. Carefully scribing a line on the end of the pump drive shaft & pulley should stop it being a problem.