help. looking for fuel rail info

[gloucester Q]

aye... i thought my underplenum job from a few months ago went pretty well, i should have known otherwise... i have a slight fuel smell and i believe i have traced it to the rubber fuel lines at the back of the fuel rails, the ones below the iac valve and between the engine and firewall. naturally, these are the hardest things to get to... anyway, does anybody have a diagram handy showing the part numbers for the fuel hose(s) i'm talking about? and would anybody care to venture how much i might have to take out to get to them? and if it includes the plenum (pllleeeasseee no...), if i've only had the intake runner gaskets on for 3 months, can i re-use them? i'm sure i know the answer is going to cost me. many thanks. randy

[maxnix]

Did you call Joe? I am not sure, but almost certain plenum comes off to get to them properly.

Why the board always recommends replacing all hoses so labor does not have to be repeated or paid a second time.

If you are talking about the upper gaskets (lower runner to plenum), probably will go back, but you can oreder from Joe and reurn upopened if htey are not required.

Good luck!

[gloucester Q]

if i remember correctly, i DID replace the hose (or hoses) back there, but i think i might have used generic fuel hose for it. i had all the other oem hoses on hand except for what was back there, and i remember it being hell to get what i had in there. ah well, lesson learned, and after one plenum job, the thought of doing another is nowhere near as daunting...

[PoorManQ45]

anyway, does anybody have a diagram handy showing the part numbers for the fuel hose(s) i'm talking about? and would anybody care to venture how much i might have to take out to get to them?

You definately do NOT need OEM hose for that. IT's a straight tube, no bends, nothing. I suspect that you used low pressure fuel line, for carburetors, when you were supposed to use High Pressure fuel line.

Check your local phone book for rubber and hose suppliers. Call them up and ask if they have high pressure fuel line, the size is 5/16in. You will only need ~6in.

Now, you have a few choices of hose type. I suggest that you get the braided/insulated as it is designed to operate in the engine compartment. It'll cost ~$2~$5.

Ok, to replace it... That's the tricky part. YOu will at least have to remove the IAC, and all hoses going to it. Then you MIGHT be able to get to where you need to be, but unless you have tiny hands, probably not. You will probably have to take the plenum off

Oh, that's not the hardest hose to replace either. There is a tiny one on the passenger side, underneath the runner second closest to the firewall, below the fuel rail, between two runners, with about 3in to work with. It's a pain in the arse, but I got it after a few hours!

[Q45tech]

At T3 a FULL plenum job means pulling the fuel rail out with injectors in place on the rail to the work bench, where these fuel hoses can be changed easier.

[PoorManQ45]

How hard is it to actually remove the fuel rail?

[gloucester Q]

had i only known... it was my first time through, and i had both fuel rails out and replaced all 8 injectors, but i put them back in and THEN tried to put the fuel hoses back on. ah well, will start sunday and should go by quicker this time. thanks.

[gloucester Q]

minor update to close out the job/thread.

pulled the plenum yesterday, checked the fuel lines. turns out i did use off the shelf 5/16" fuel hose, but it did not hold up well. went to the dealer, got the hose they use (yikes, pricey, but tough as nails), put it all back together (5 hours from start to finish with a friend--not bad eh?) and the thing is back to normal.

i would caution against the use of any old fuel hose. as far as i can tell, the hose i used was not that new--who knows how long it'd been sitting around... when i pulled a piece off, i squeezed it with my fingers and the inner rubber just cracked. the outer surface also did not exhibit the resiliency of the oem-type hose, and seemed to cave due to the pressure of the hose clamps, so instead of the clamps keeping nice and tight, they'd loosened up. note i'm not talking about all non-oem hose, just what i ended up putting in. thanks for the help.

oh, the fuel rails aren't all that hard once you get to them, which is pulling the plenum. there is a sub-fuel tube that runs from the connections to the filter, along the passenger side valve bank, that dips into the valley and meets up with the back of the passenger side fuel rail--that was the toughest one. 4 hoses in all is what i changed out. 1 in the front, the remaining 3 at the back. if there's a 5th that i'm missing, please don't anybody tell me...

[PoorManQ45]

Good job.

I know what you mean about standard off the shelf fuel hose. IT's crappy, but that's not what I'm using . I'm using commercial grade stuff. It's way tougher then the OEM stuff, and it has a braided insulation layer around it for extra protection.

[Q451990]

You missed the 5th hose?? Oh no...

[Q451990]

Good job... glad to see you got it finsihed.

Heath