Fuel Lines...

[childofthewind]

Hey, everyone. Hope winter's treating you all well.

I'm getting ready to replace my fuel lines. They've all been replaced from tank to firewall, I just have the engine compartment left. (for the record, every mechanic who has inspected the lines in the recent past have said the original look fine; this is just a peace of mind thing.)

I was going to have a local shop do this but after reading Ben's great tutorial and some other threads, I'd prefer to save money and learn a bunch doing it on my own.

My one (which may turn into many once I get started..) question is should I have the fuel injectors cleaned somewhere? If so, where? I'm in Portland, OR so local would be great. Do you all have them cleaned when doing this? Anything else I should think about replacing (such as fuel regulator)?

My van is an '87 with the stock 2.1 L.


Thanks!

vermont girl / child of the wind
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville

[rubbachicken]

i send all of my customers injectors away to cruzinperformance.com
he's a good guy to deal with, quick turn around, i've had more than a dozen sets done this far no complaints, i'm very happy to recommend his services
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lucy our westy

lucy's BIG adventure

meet 'burni'


markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310 or 617 935 4182

[Stuartzickefoose]

If you up for a road trip, im showing another vangon guy how to replace them, on my van, in everett on saturday, tomorrow. I could help yiu through it.

Unless you want to be down and out for a week, id stick with just good lines and fuel line clamps to replace, dont worry about injectors unless your having problems.
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[KevinsKamper]

I just did this job myself....go for it....its not hard and its rewarding when your done....I ended up replacing the fuel pressure regulator and the injectors since I was doing the job. One tip I will share that worked out well.....I attached all the new fuel lines to the fuel rail as well as the injectors while out on the workbench, then installed the whole fuel rail assembly with lines and injectors attached at once, feeding the new lines up to the FPR and T fitting as I went.....saved trying to attach the fuel line and clamps down in the tight work space. Good luck and any questions you can pm me....Kevin
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1990 Westfalia GL
1980 Toyota Sport Truck 4wd
1981 Toyota DLX 4wd
1983 Toyota SR5 4wd

[seventyfo]

In the past I've bought used injectors here on the samba 5-10 bucks apiece and sent off to witch hunter. That way I'm not down waiting on the turn around and have a set of running spares in the end.
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85 Vanagon GL Westy GW 2.2 (Rebuilt by YT)


"I don't know you well enough to care about your comments". Watkins Cravey

[t3 kopf]

If you're up for it, you could check the spray pattern and volume of the injectors before removing the engine compartment lines to see whether they need cleaning. I would replace the injector seals while doing the fuel lines at least.
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'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[childofthewind]

[bluebus86]

Use 30R9 lined hose to resist the government mandated corn based alcohol fuel that cost more, raises food prices and delivers worst mileage, it also attacks the older non-lined hoses. (Thank you corn lobby and congress!!!)


30R9 is resistant to the new crap fuels, has a Teflon like inner liner to protect the hose from the fuel.

30R9 will be printed on the hose along its length, 30R7 is the old stuff, it is NOT lined and is not resistant to todays fuel.

besure to delete the fire wall fitting (bulkhead fitting) , it is made of plastic that does degrade, and can result in a fuel leak, simply delete this fitting, and run the hose under the fire wall. this fitting is located directly in front of motor, just above the flywheel, above motor.
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[ThankYouJerry]

[Dana Champion]

I replaced my fuel lines about a year ago, on my '88 2.1 Westfalia. I noticed that I had a fuel leak as the van was idling in my carport. Thankfully I caught it before a disaster. I ordered the fuel hose kit from Gowesty, with the "better" hose. The kit came with original style clamps, injector seals, firewall fitting delete, etc. I did have to buy the clamp pliers.
I took my time, replacing one at a time, as I went, using the old hose as a guide for length. Be sure to use a very sharp blade to cut the hose, for a clean cut.
Surprising, my old hoses looked excellent. I had a pinhole in one line, that didn't make sense. I also did the fuel rails on a bench,( actually, on a piece of wood over the engine compartment) and did not do a thing to the injectors. If your van is running fine, leave them. If you want to have them checked or replaced just because, that's up to you. The job was kinda fun. Dealing with the injectors is a piece of cake. Next time I do this, I will probably add just a little length to a couple of hoses. Gowesty now has the fuel line insulators, if you want to replace 'em. Good luck! Be methodical! Know your van. Peace
Dana

[ohhorob]

I did my fuel lines with the Van Cafe kit a few weeks ago.

From this thread I selected new fuel injectors.. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2...highlight=

From Autozone website.. "GP Sorensen/Fuel Injector"
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"Gundy" - '85 Westfalia
GoWesty 2300cc, Digijet

[CampWesty]

[WestyBob]

Fuel injectors during the vanagon production era and since rarely go 'bad'. I personally have never had that happened over twenty years of too many vanagons nor do I know anyone who has although I'm sure someone somewhere out there has, as with all things VW there are exceptions.

In the early days of fuel injectors on the aircoolers they could be more problematic although this usually involved stirred-up crud from the gas tank getting stuck in the needle. The injectors these days are about half the size and far more refined.

If anyone has any real concern with their vanagon injectors, there are plenty of off the shelf cleaners like from STP, like from any place that sells car stuff. Just pour the bottle into the gas tank, fill the tank up with gas and call it good.

Removing the injectors will require new rubber seal replacements, two to an injector, when reinstalling. This is recommended for safety and convenience. They are cheap --- I think Vancafe sells the smaller one for 50 cents and the larger for $1 but they can be had from any place that sells Vw parts.

These rubber seals can potentially get brittle from engine heat and fuel residue and eventually allow fuel leakage (rare) onto the engine block. Visual inspection of each outer seal can be done if one is concerned. Equally important, when removing any injector, if these two rubber seals crumble/fall apart (usually it's the inner one), make sure the pieces don't fall back into the injector hole.

Bottom line ... don't mess with them unless you visually spot gas leakage or 'weeping' when the engine is idling, or if you notice during visual inspection the outer rubber seal edge looks cracked or severely weathered. However, I couldn't argue against anyone wanting to replace those seals after roughly 25+ years of service for super insurance

[djkeev]

Well,

I'm glad you Western Folks who drives without the Department of Transportation engulfing your vehicle in various forms of Sodium every winter have such great injectors.

Quite honestly..... Ours RUST away!

[insyncro]

Fluid Film sprayed on the metal engine parts before storms and when salt is being spread is a really good idea.

Wash off the crap with Simple Green and hot water, than reapply for the next storm.

[KevinsKamper]

[WestyBob]

Yeah Djkeev .... that's quite gnarly and not commonly seen out here. I did have a westy syncro once that came from Maine and had a similar appearance but hey .... the upper rubber seal there still looks good

[djkeev]

While mine were rusty and corroded beyond reuse, I failed to photograph them.

These images are not mine but ones I pulled out of the Gallery, ftp2leta aka bensplace posted those images.......

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[WestyBob]

Despite the fact, in those pics, the injector and hose clamps are turning to dust and the hoses are cracked and turning to stone not to mention the whole assembly looking like it's been sitting under the ocean since 1000 BC, the electrical connections look clean so I'd wager those injectors are still working.

[childofthewind]

Thanks Bob and everyone else for your tips and experience, I very much so appreciate it.

All of this bizarre warm weather we're getting in the PNW will have me starting this in the next couple weeks.

Recently I poured some sea foam into my gas tank and have since then also only filled up with Chevron/Texaco and it's definitely running better. Should I put more injector cleaner in after the new lines or before? Does it matter? And is that good enough - to not have them cleaned elsewhere? I could test the spray although I'm not exactly sure what that entails..

I only need to do the engine bay so I'm wondering if I should get a kit from VC or GW or buy things separately?

Thanks!
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville