Warm Start Issue - Resting Fuel Pressure Drops to 0 after 5 minutes

[Nuclearbacon]

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The Vacuum gauge I ordered and received was defective. It was... frozen in time.

[Nuclearbacon]

When I moved to the beach from my inland 2.5 car garage, I gave up the convenience of having my jack and jackstands within reaching distance of my drivers door. It's now a 30 minute hassle of carting my jack and stands all the way across cobblestone apartment complex to where the car is parked.

I tell you this because if I would have had my jack/stands handy, before even hitting the forum, I would have gone under the car and seen THIS:





Because of failing light (thanks a lot, sun) and doing it right after work, I had to peek, take photos, drop the car back down, clean up and jump on my PC to see the carnage.

Holy-fuel-return-line! It's splitting! Doesn't look like its leaking (yet) and the other hose looks like it has wet road slime or something. When I touched the "wet looking" line and smelled it, it did not smell like fuel.




Full album of 8 photos

I guess I'm ordering a few fuel lines this evening! could I be losing holding pressure from that ugly rubber return line? Could it be the sticky goopy line? I want to take all of that out of there and replace everything, including the accumulator since I'm there, but! I still haven't hooked it up to vacuum.

I'd like to take car down to my folks place, where my dad has all the stuff I'd need to get that accumulator out and tested. I just wish I could get the parts to put on, on Saturday... and now I'm thinking out loud.

[Nuclearbacon]

Fuel-accumulator-hose.jpg

Just noticed these hose/worm clamps on John's reference photo...

Should I have these clamps in place??? Because I don't.

If I'm losing holding pressure because I'm mysteriously missing hose clamps.... dude

[DMCMW Dave]

Fuel-accumulator-hose.jpg

Just noticed these hose/worm clamps on John's reference photo...

Should I have these clamps in place??? Because I don't.

:

The factory install, and some aftermarket (notably Grady's orange Aeroquip hoses) do not use hose clamps on the pressure line. They were a pressure fit Teflon hose. At this point most of the aftermarket solutions are using a rubber hose which needs the clamps. Yours happens to look original.

It was common a decade ago to replace the accumulator and not replace the hoses.

[Rich]

When I touched the "wet looking" line and smelled it, it did not smell like fuel.



...... could I be losing holding pressure from that ugly rubber return line? Could it be the sticky goopy line? .

Great to have some pics to get things in order there. Nothing to add to Dave's notes about what normal hoses might look like nowadays.

First, your photobucket link did not work at this end, so will work with one you posted.

Second, only two of the 4 lines in the feed-return system are pressurized and only those 2 pressurized lines could possibly be a hose-degradation-related cause for your rest pressure drop problem, among the other causes of that symptom. Am counting the feed line from pump to accumulator and fm accumulator to engine as separate lines.

For the rest pressure issue do not worry about the unpressurized return line (engine back to tank) or the accumulator bleed/overflow line (single line by itself on thin end of accumulator, also connects to tank, maybe together with fuel return).

Degraded fuel lines that do not leak fuel and are not pressurized are not great but are not your main issue. The worst indication from the pics is that some of your main feed lines may be just as bad someplace else - no way to see from these pics.

Are you ever detecting any fuel odor? If not then it points more to the accumulator than the hoses. When the accum. blows it safely leaks fuel back to the tank and you won't smell that. Here we leave aside rest pressure issues in the K-Jet itself or in the fuel pump chk valve.

So what to do next?

Try pulling the bleed/overflow line off of the back of the accumulator (left connection in photos), attaching your vacuum tester there and seeing if the accumulator is leaking at full vacuum. You were already planning to do that?

If it won't hold vacuum then plan to replace it and to also replace any degraded lines, pressurized or not, while you're at it. If it holds vacuum then the leak is either is happening at the accum. only under higher pressure (vacuum is only 1 bar and the system runs at ~5 bar) or the leak is elsewhere, not in accumulator. Fuel line replacement is in your future in any case, it seems. Urgently or otherwise.

[Nuclearbacon]

Working link for album of 8 photos.

[Nuclearbacon]

I will get vacuum on that line as soon as I can Thank you for the response!

[Nuclearbacon]

Finally!

I pulled the rear line off of the accumulator and fuel poured out of the line and the accumulator.

at this point I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong , but I put vacuum on the accumulator anyway and I could barely hold 10 inches of vacuum.

4 year old accumulator DOA. New one is on its way.

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Thank you everyone for fighting through something that I should have systematically gone through. I just didn't want to think my semi-new accumulator gave it up. I'm learning thanks to you all.

I am very appreciative. I'll let everyone know when it's in and functioning like it SHOULD be with awesome rest pressure.

Enjoy this awesome photo of the amazing garage I was able to use last evening.

IMG_2409.jpg

[GR8SCOTT]

Sweet pic!

[GR8SCOTT]

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If anyone ever needs an inline fuel check valve, US Plastics Corp sells a great one. I have one installed in my car.

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