Hello guys
I have a 85 Se I’ve own for a few years and Im trying to get it back to road worthy again. Quick story I stopped driving it like 6 years ago , mainly cause engine would stall when coming to to a stop or deceleration . I did start the engine at least once a week and kept fuel fresh all that time, so no bad fuel . I started by replacing the bac and it help a lot, it would keep engine running but no perfect.. The car starts and idles but has a minor mis fire specially when lightly touching accelerator . I should also mention that another reason I stopped driving car was a fuel leak I discovered under throttle body. I proceeded to replace the fuel pump and filter and made no change, so replaced the injectors with professionally cleaned used ones oem and eliminated the fuel damper with Atkins bonjo bolt and no change. I also replaced the ngk plugs and wires, distributer cap and rotor as well as coils . Also replaced the maf sensor with a rebuilt oem unit . I want to say that car pulls good when you drive it hard and again problem is only when you barely depress the accelerator and under 3k mostly
I recently put a fuel pressure gauge at the hose going to engine from fire wall out hose ,,and it reads 32psi idle but when barely pressing accelerator the presure gauge needle fluctuates from 22psi to 30psi and engine hesitate and shakes a little but when I push accelerator all the way down it revs normal ? This brings me to the next problem the power steering. When reving the engine the power steering fluid seems to built pressure and begins to come out from reservoir top cap. I replaced cap iwith another used ones oem and it does he same. It doesn’t do it all the time either so its pretty strange

 

I wonder if the power steering pump is experiencing a clog. Slip the belt off on the power steering and see how it does. I don't have an SE so can't comment on the fuel pressure measurement you made.

 

On the power steering, I had a similar problem with mine. I tried bleeding it by the FSM, raising front end turning left or right, etc several times but mine kept overflowing too. Turns out air was being introduced through a bad o-ring. Mine was the oring between the reservoir and the pump housing. Once I replaced that and bled the system by the FSM, I haven’t had any problems.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. Any chance you remember the part number and place where you bought it? I did some research and its not invluded in the power steering oring repair kit apparently.

 

Thanks I’ll give it try.

 

I got this kit from eBay https://ebay.us/m/UDLE8O
pretty sure it had the oring for the connection between pump and tank.

I did fight a small drip a little even after replacing the oring and took it back out, cleaned up again and reinstalled.

 

that’s super helpful. Thank you for the pics and info,

 

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share an update on my fuel pressure issue. I finally dropped the fuel tank and was surprised to find it very clean, along with the filter. For peace of mind, I still replaced the pickup tube filter with a Jaguar unit—but unfortunately, the problem is still there.

The car won’t rev past 6k, so I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge at the firewall line. It reads about 32 psi, but drops to around 25 psi for a couple of seconds and never goes above 35 psi while revving. I also noticed the new Carter fuel pump starts getting noticeably louder after a short drive.

At this point, I’m wondering if a faulty fuel pressure regulator could be causing these pressure issues. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

also is this a good quality replacement?

 

Guys has anyone used a aftermarket pressure regulator like the one above? Thanks

 

First off, YES - your driveability issue is most likely Fuel Pressure Related given your testing and description, however, you've also made a significant number of changes from the stock system that you're now your own test pilot. The aftermarket Fuel Pump you're using could be the problem, or the removal of your Fuel Pulsation Dampner (*which is paired to the one mounted on the stock Fuel Pump), or even the Fuel Pressure Regulator on the fuel rail and it's associated vacuum hose could be the culprit.

The FPR uses intake plenum vacuum to shut the valve at the far side of the Fuel Rail which is what increases fuel pressure at the injectors, effectively shunting the return line as long as vacuum is applied. This vacuum would be greatest at the first few seconds of WOT and lines up with your complaint of off-throttle bogging. Also, the Pulsation Dampner is a critical part of he system to avoid a hydraulic hammer effect at the fuel injectors, and that's why here's 2 of them in the system - one at the pump and one at the fuel rail. Removal of one or both usually leads to driveability problems. Your low fuel pressure readings make me think it's FPR or Pulsation Dampner...

Lastly, the aftermarket Fuel Pump you're running may not be flowing enough volume and/or pressure to run the system as designed. Also, you say OEM rebuilt Injectors, but what CC rate are they flowing and how do they test? All of these could be contributing to your problems, but the fact that the engine is running and idling are both good signs. Vacuum systems at this age tend to be leaky due to brittleness, and even one vacuum hose left off can cause all sorts of weird idle or driving issues. Plus, there are probably 8-9 vacuum lines hooked up to the RE-EGI chamber than run all sorts of engine controls via the intake.

If it were me, I would replace the stock Pulsation Dampner at the fuel rail, put the stock, original AFM back in it, and try to get it back to the starting point when it was running well. From there, you can start down the troubleshooting road to a solution. You have a lot of adverse factors confusing your work thus far.

 

I was really hoping to hear back from you! I will get a new pulsation damper and try the stock AFM aswell. I will report back in a few days. Thank you so much for your help and always great knowledge LongDuck!!!