Tearing my hair out with this now..

Brought a 1989 MK2 breadvan, drove it home, ran fine, no real issues...

Parked it on the drive to service, changed the spark plugs and air filter, put a tank of fuel in, started it to move it and it cut out.

Now won't start at all.

I have changed the Carb flange, Fuel filter, fuel pump.

If I put a vacuum pump after the fuel filter it will draw fuel through so the luck up isnt blocked.

I tested for spark and it appears to have spark.

It turns over but doesn't seem to be firing.

Any help is greatly appreciated as I want to take it to an event on the 10th June ideally 😢

Thank you in advance

Will it start if you dribble a bit of fuel down the carb?

Yes, just dribbled some fuel in to the carb whilst tur ing her over and she tried to fire.

I didnt have enough ready to get a full start, but she definitely fired.

On a note, I didnt notice the fuel filter fill.

That tells you you've got compression, a spark, and the carb is doing carb things, so all good news.

Empty fuel filter is telling me one of two things. No fuel in the tank, or fuel pump not working.

Turn the engine over and give the fuel pump a couple of diagnostic taps with a small hammer, not a whack with a large one.

Assuming it's got fuel in the tank, and that it hasn't leaked out while the car's been sat, take the hose off the fuel filter and blow back down it while someone listens for bubbles in the tank. That will tell you if it can deliver fuel to the pump, and possibly shift a blockage if there's one there.

Hook the fuel lines back up, give it a try. It should get fuel into the filter in less than a minute of turning the engine over. If it doesn't, the fuel pump's not pumping. They're cheap, like £20 for a genuine one from Heritage.

These cars do suffer from rust at the bottom of the fuel filler neck, so that's a candidate for fuel leaks. Likewise, all the rubber hoses are prone to perish. Replace then as soon as you get chance if they don't look new.

Thank you for the advice, I will investigate the filler nech to see how good/bad condition it is in.

I did manage to get it started today, I replaced the flexible fuel line in the engine bay pre fuel pump.

I ran a line directly from the pump to a jerry can of fuel and turned it over.

Once I reconnected it all it started.

Runs really rough but did start.

I have a new set of HT leads on the way as I tested the resistance and only had a reading off 2 of them.

Nicely done! I wouldn't worry about the rough running at the minute, that might just be that it wasn't getting a consistent fuel supply from the can if it was balanced somewhere or working too hard against gravity.

Did you manage to establish if there's still fuel in the tank, and that the line isn't blocked?

Full tank of fuel, and its drawing through when I put a vacuum pump on the filter, so definitely not blocked.

Im wondering if it was maybe the pump wasn't priming properly or there was a split in the old line between the filter and the pump and it was pulling in air

Could be. If the rubber hoses are age-unknown, it's worth replacing them all anyway because they are a fire risk (I nearly lost a mk2 that way).

The cloth overbraid pipes are annoying.

Stop kinks but hide perishing decay.

You will want SAE J30 R9 spec fuel line to be Ethanol resistant. VW have 5.6mm internal diameter usually.