Haven't tried it, no reason it could not work.

As long as you HAVE an electric pump the distance is not too big of a deal and one thing I know from dicking around with old V8 cars is that fuel pumps are usually happier in cool places than hot ones.

I have a MKI and the fuel pump is mounted on above the engine to starboard.... the PO must have made the change.... I would think you would have sufficient fuel in the filter to get the engine to start no?

Tony

Tom,

I have followed this thread, it is possible you are loosing prime to the pump after the engine sits for a while. Could be allowing air in at the filter on the engine or any of the lines going from the electric pump to the engine.
Pumping the throttle on the engine does nothing as there is no accelerator pump in the injector like a carburetor.

I suggest before your next cold start that you remove the engine cover, turn the ignition on, unscrew the knurled knob used to bleed the fuel system. You will then hear the electric pump start clicking away, this will bleed the line from the pump to the injector. Close the knurled knob and heat the glow plugs and try a start. If it starts normally you may very well be loosing the prime to the injector pump from some small leak. This will also manifest it self with some engine surging just after start.

Other hard starting issues when cold can be caused by dirty injectors or low compression. Compression ignition engines often need help from glow plugs when cold, if starts are quick after the engine has been running it could indicate bad glow plugs, lack of fuel supply after sitting or low compression.

Tom, don't bother with removing glow plugs and testing compression, yet. I agree with Steve, check your fuel system first. When was the last time the fuel hoses were changed along with all the clamps? Next step would be to check the glow plugs.

Your C36 website undoubtedly has this kind of information, but here are some of our resources for you, too:

Bleeding 101 [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6377.0.html[/url]

Engine Tech wiki: [url]http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Diesel_Engine[/url]

Have you removed and cleaned the filter inside the fuel pump? Is your fuel pumped: tank -- Racor -- pump? See our Critical Upgrades for this and a series of hard starting issues:

[url]http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Diesel_Engine[/url]

I changed the original location of the fuelpump on our 36 #432. The original had the pump before the filter instead of after the filter... the pump was almost completely plugged up and it was hard to start. Fortunately these pumps are almost bulletproof a new filter and gasket (at NAPA) fixed the problem. I then mounted the pump and filter (after rebuilding) to the front of the water tank behind the engine. Ran all new fuel hoses to tank. According to the Surveyor the fuel pump should be within 15" of the engine now. I have not had any fuel problems since.