Fuel pressure regulator issue

[nayrius]

My fuel pressure regulator seems to have died and is creating a vacume problem on my 76 bus, do I have to remove the gas tank to rpelace this or is there some trick to change it out, i plugs into the wall and I wasent looking forward to a large project right now, any help appriciated.

Ryan

[Randy in Maine]

How do you know it died?

No you don't have to remove the tank to replace it. It is attached to the fuel rail on the 1/2 side of the engine and have a vacuum hose going to it.

It looks kind of like this thing....

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BOS%2D0%2D280%2D160%2D200

[ratwell]

It's only held on by a nuts from the backside. To remove it you need to drain the tank of fuel or use a fuel line clamp.
_________________
'78 Westfalia CDN
'76 Doublecab Sweden
Read the Baywindow FAQ

[VWBusrepairman]

I'd verify that it's (press. reg.) not functioning properly before removing it. It should hold a steady 35-38psi at idle, I believe. (make sure the vacuum lines aren't cracked- causing issues).

If you remove it, use your hemostats to clamp off the line and prevent excess fuel from spilling. (the gasoline will remove and "black" residue that might have been on the hemostats)

John Muir, beer, and babes!

[nayrius]

Randy in Maine,

Thanks for responding,

First my van started to run poorly and hated idling, while I was checking the engin the line that goes from the fuel pressure regulator to the intake plenum where it is connected to the IP blew off, and the engin started to run great but a idled just a little high, when I reatach the line the engin ends up dying after a minute of slowly dying. I was just guessing that was the problem

[dingo]

Maybe, the engine just preferred the fuel pressure level when the vac was disconnected from the regulator. ...i.e. higher pressure = richer mixture....which would point to initial lean mixture being the problem...vacuum leaks somewhere ??

just one line of thinking...im sure there are many to pursue

[Randy in Maine]

It is a little more complicated than that to determne if indeed that is the problem.

With FI, you just can't start replacing stuff without making sure of where the problem is or you will never find out what the problem is. It is sort of like playing the game "Clue". Before you declare it is "Professor Plum, the lead pipe and the ball room", you have to really narrow it down first.

If you don't have a Bentely manual, order it up from somewhere. While you are waiting for it to show it, start doing a search here under "fuel injection" and start looking at all of the vacuum hoses for cracks or leaks, electrical connections for good connections, and make sure your points/condensor, plugs, wires/cap/rotor are really good or new.

You want this thing to be in pretty good tune with respect to timing and point dwell first. All vacuum lines in excellent shape and no poor electrical connections.

A new regualtor is about $70 or so and may not fix the problem. A Bentley, new wires, cap and rotor, points/condesnor and all new vacuum lines are also about $70 or so. If you don't have a volt ohm meter, they are sale at Sears right now for $10 for a pretty good one, you are going to need it.

Let us know what happens.

[ratwell]

[nayrius]

Hey guys,

sorry for not responding sooner, but the tags on the van expired and where I live in the national park all parking areas are considered "public" and the van got impounded, thought I could let it sit and fix the problem befor I got it registered again, not in yosemite. Tags are now good. New problem though, I ran the van out of gas just about 2 weeks ago and was wondering if there would be any problems getting it going after all this time, I have heard rumors that fuel injection does not like running out of gas, Is this true? Or is it just a rumor? If it does not like running out of gas for an extended period of time(Is two weeks extended) what should I do to get it running easily? The weather has changed a lot recently should I worry about rust? Will start checking the vacume problem after I get it off the lot. Thanks for any help for a fi idiot.

Ryan

[Randy in Maine]

The worst thing about running out of gas is letting the fuel pump run with nothing (like gas) to cool it.

Not a big deal, just put some gas in it and it should fire up.

Grab your Bentley and do a pressure test on the fuel delivery system and see where that leads you. There are no shortcuts in the Bentley testing sequence.

More likely to be a vacuum leak than fuel pump but you will have to rule that out step by step.

[nayrius]

Thanks randy, I apreciate all your help and patience, I havent got the Bently manual yet but will have it soon, since I run low on patience is ther somewhere I can read online the bentley stuff while I wait for shipping durring this slow shipping season, Im not trying to cheat, I have paid for the book last night just waiting and anxious.

Ryan

[nayrius]

Well guys thanx for the help, sorry not to close this issue earlier, the bently manual did not help with the issue I had, it was the AFM, as soon as I got a good working one in there its running good, thanx.