Tried to find a pressure regulator today and noone has one. I did find a kit which is basically the internal part of the regulator. My question is, can you remove the cover and use this kit? My Haynes repair manual says you can't do this. Also how can I tell if mine is bad?

 

About the only thing that can fail is the diaphraghm. With the rebuild kit, it usually comes with a new one (actually it is 2 sheets of fuel-resistant flexible compound) affixed to a spring assembly. It is possible to just replace this part on L98's. Either use a tamper-proof torx bit or knock the **** out of the torx heads with a chisel. Then unscrew all the torx bits, backing each off a little bit each time (don't do one at a time else the cover could be damaged by spring pressure). Then reassemble.

Usually you can tell if you have a bad one by unplugging the vacuum line running to it and if it is bad, fuel will often drip out. Good luck, -Matt-

 

I'll use the kit since I can get it. I've been doing process of elimination to find out why my car is acting flooded. I've changed the filter, relay and checked the fuel pump. I got it running yesterday after changing the filter for about five minutes but then the pressure dropped and it died.

 

Sounds like you have done your homework. Before you do it, just make sure that you don't have any vacuum leaks. One could actually be telling the regulator to fatten up the mixture and the ECM could be reducing the fuel flow an excess amount. If you do the regulator, the upper (and maybe runners) will have to come off anyways. Because of that, it might be a good time to have your injectors cleaned. Forum members have had good luck with Rick (Cruzin Performance). 65Z01 speaks highly of him.

You said it was running fine for 5 minutes. Could the fuel pump be overheating possibly causing failure after an increased time duration? One way to check this would be to see if the current draw on the pump increases after time.

 

How do I check for vacuum leaks and how do I check the draw on the fuel pump. I thought I might go ahead and send my injectors to Cruzin Performance. By the way High Hopes we have the same car -85 Med Gray only mines not running. Thanks for the help

 

Hey Clyde check mine out. Maybe we should start a club. :lol: :lol:

 

Uhm...I started about 5 PM Friday night and by 10:15PM, a buddy and I had her torn down to the shortblock.

Another 5 hours later, all the rods were out and had the accessories and transmission out. I wouldn't say mine is quite running right now ;)

The current draw might not be able to be done by you. It requires an ammeter and being able to know how to use it. I suppose an easy way to do it (if you had someone who was familiar with it's useage) would be to pull the FP fuse and put the ammeter in place of the fuse. I would say that an overheating pump could either start off at a normal amperage (???amps) and as it heated up, could start either going a lot higher OR open.

Vacuum leaks can be done a few ways. One is to use throttle body cleaner very carefully around all fittings and gasket areas when the engine is running. If you have a vac leak, the TB cleaner will get sucked into the engine and momentarily raise the engine speed. Another way is to use a propane torch but don't light it! Just run the end near the same locations. WD40 can also be used but the concept is different. It will not really increase the idle speed because of the flammibility but because it will very briefly seal out the excess air and the engine speed will change. I do not recommend the above methods without great care that you do not blow yourself up or catch the engine on fire. The methods outlined above have worked for many people but they cause severe flammibility hazards. Use at your own risk. Now that that is out of the way, I use the TB cleaner method.

Also don't rule out the possibility of a failing oil pressure cutoff switch, located on a small fitting-manifold on the D/S (drivers side) of the distributor. The pressure cutoff switch is small enough to fit in a ring box, has 2 terminals on it, a rubber connector covering it, and is near the oil pressure sender (which is about the size of a small Advil bottle). If this switch goes open, supposed to at 6psi or lower of oil pressure when working correctly, then voltage to fuel pump is cut.

If you want specs on ammeter useage or something, drop me an email.

 

Couple of points:

The in-tank pumps draw like 5 amps normally, and I think they sit on a 10 amp fuse (check your car - ymmv). If it overheated it would take out the fuse, probably - and a failing pump wouldn't lead to a rich condition, anyway.

If you spray WD 40 around a running engine, I believe the silicon will soon eat the O2 sensor. Those cost a couple of bucks to replace.


If the problem is not with the FPR, my vote would be leaky injectors. You can have the old ones cleaned for $100 (and still have a really old set of injectors) or buy new ones from Summit for about $200, and not have to worry about them again. It's your nickel.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check out summit also.