Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 08:58:36 -0800 (PST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: tfab@netcom.com (thom fitzpatrick)
Subject: EFI - Caution - dangerous fuel pressure (fwd)
Something from the porsche list...
And Ralph Ricks thus wrote:
> From porschephiles-request@tta.com Sat Dec 23 07:02:37 1995
> Date: Sat, 23 Dec 1995 06:59:47 -0800
> Message-Id: <199512231459.GAA29887@ix3.ix.netcom.com>
> From: rickydik@ix.netcom.com (Ralph Ricks )
> Subject: EFI - Caution - dangerous fuel pressure
> To: porschephiles@tta.com
>
> This story applies to all 914's, 912E's and others with high pressure
> fuel systems.
>
> My son's '81 Vanagon with Ljet EFI has had a string of fuel leaks over
> the past months, and finally died. The cheap Asian oil pressure gauge
> I had installed in the engine room to monitor fuel pressure even
> developed a leak and died before that.
>
> Yesterday I installed a good 0-80 psi gauge and started to find the
> trouble. The gauge pegged at well over 120 psi!
>
> First I looked for a kinked fuel return line as we had tilted the
> engine to replace the clutch last summer, but it looked okay. The fuel
> pressure regulator was the culprit. It was frozen. I have never seen
> one fail before, so naturally I didn't bring a spare the 350 miles from
> home. After all, it's just a spring-loaded valve. It makes me wonder
> if the corrosives in the "oxygenated" fuels aren't the culprit.
>
> It didn't matter that a new one is pressure regulator is $80, because
> dealers don't stock them. I found one in a pickyourpart yard for $5.
>
> It is now my guess that the regulator was sticking sometimes before it
> died, causing the fuel leaks.
>
> I have a fuel pressure gauge in the dash of my '76 914 and one in the
> engine room of my '73 914. One is going into the dash of each of my
> EFI cars right away. Marshall's in Anaheim makes a nice 1 1/2" 0-60
> psi mechanical gauge that I bought at a local bearing and racing supply
> house for my '76. It cost $25, and has already saved that much in
> fuel, as the car ran fine, but I found when I installed the gauge that
> the pressure was 20% too high.
>
> Ralph
> Every electrical failure is due to a mechanical problem.
> rickydick
>
Thom
--
> Frank, the Sun never shone on our love before - Tom sings
Thom Fitzpatrick
'56 sunroof kombi
tfab@netcom.com - ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/tf/tfab/index.html
thom@calweb.com
http://www.calweb.com/~thom
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