Got home today after running to my local parts store to pick up some royal purple. I pop the hood with the car still running only to see SMOKE flying up from the Pulsation Damper area! Luckily I got it home before the smoke grew into a full fledged fire. My car is officially on sick leave until a new PD arrives.

Moral of this story, as its been said a million times, IF YOU SMELL GAS DONT DRIVE! Its not even worth the risk! I was VERY lucky I got home and looked before it quickly grew into a full flame.

 

WoW. Good save. Glad you saved the car, even more glad your ok.

 

why don't u just get rid of the DP??? with that in mind...I'm removing mine out while I'm rebuilting my engine. C

 

I'm gonna replace it with a new one from mazda, but yeah, I got damn lucky on that one.

 

if you want, I have banjo bolts that eliminate the PD all together. even new PDs can start leaking. let me know if you want to save alot of $$

 

I thought about it, but I figured Mazda put it there for a reason Lol. I appreciate the offer though.

 

you are very lucky. im glad i know what a PD is and that it can ruin my life!

 

i can smell gas smell when i am driving but i believe its due to the fact that i removed all my charcoal canisters and fumes leak out of there, im not sure if i will replace the pd or do banjo bolt mod.

Banjo bolt mod seems to be the more reliable mod but then again isnt the pd there for a good purpose ? Im lucky my pd is good, im guessing if the screw is loose in the end its bad ? mine wasnt so im not worried, but my parts car had the screw loose in the end where the cap is so i ditched that one.

 

Yes Mazda did put it there for a reason and I would say replace it with a new part. It is true that they are very prone to leaking, however, this is after covering many miles. The PD does what the name implies, it absorbs pulsations in the fuel rail that are created when the injectors are opening and closing. (Almost like turning the faucet off and hearing the pipes bang) Just sticking another banjo bolt in its place may solve the potential leaking problem, but can cause others as without the PD the vibrations in the fuel rail can sometimes cause break up in the mid to high RPM range which can also be harmful to your engine. I vote replace it.

 

A few years ago I bought a 86 GXL from a dealer for $2000. I didnt know anything about them then, I didnt even know what a PD was. Anyway, I drove is about 100 miles with the PD leaking. I could always smell gas, but didnt think it was that serious. I took it to a mechanic and watched him while he checked it out. There was a steady stream of gas coming out and the mechanic was so suprised it didnt catch on fire. I got so lucky!! Now if I even smell a hint of gas on my T2, I'm shuttin it off and checkin it out.

 

Don't just replace the pulsation damper..

There are much better ways to deal with this. Both of the *great* options cost a little bit of money..one, the *alright* option, does not.

This has been debated to death, the official call is that the PD is there for a reason. BUT, the brand new Mazda pulsation damper has been tested and on numerous occasions has FAILED in under a month of putting on!

Banjo bolt. Quick, easy, effective. Sure, you won't have your..pulsations dampened...but..it works. And saves lots of money.

Either get an AFTERMARKET PD, and retrofit it, or go with a parallel fuel rail setup. The parallel rail setup can be done QUITE cheaply, as there are now fitting available to let you use rubber hose instead of stainless!

These two systems will allow you to run an aftermarket pressure regulator, which includes a pulsation damper.

 

What is the PD and where is it located. mine is an s4 GXL thanks

 

The picture you posted isn't exactly a cheap process.

 

??? It can be done for slightly more than just buying an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator ???

 

i smell gas whenever my car is running...

then again i have no PD and i know i have no fuel leaks, damn rotaries.

 

+1. Do you have a charcoal canister?

 

How come I don't hear anything about PD failures happening in Australia?

 

Australian's are so rotary savvy - they probably just skip the whole concept and do something uber-Aussie. :-)

 

I caught my pd failure early. The car started running a little wierd and I just started checking everything. I found that the screw was undone on my pd and when I put it back on the car wouldn't run, so I got a banjo bolt and it runs great now. Well it did untill I popped my clutch again last month. They don't make used factory clutches like they used to!

I just cry whenever I hear about fires, FCs are too amazing to let burn. Everyone check your PDs!

 

its like checking for testicular cancer for men but for cars, YOU GOTTA DO IT or you'll be sorry.

 

i was able to prevent it before it ate my ar, banjo bolt mod is great, but indeed temporary



eventually i'll put in another, maybe.

 

The population of the U.S. is about 25x that of Australia, thus you're probably about 25x more likely to hear about it from a U.S. source.

Why would you mention testicular cancer? That just makes me cringe. Then again, if I did have it, I could win some Tour de France's.

 

Going to grab the part from Mazda today, I'll try to have it installed with a detailed writeup for anyone who has never done it before.

 

Just buy a new PD or aftermarket PD.

Banjo is just rediculous. I don't care who says "well I don't have a problem with it". You may not but im sure your injectors have some struggle going against the pulsations.

Lets make a poll and see whos PD failed the first time. Im sure there will be thousands of owners without a PD failure problem and compair that figure to how many times the PD has failed. Its won't even be debatable.

Go search on the internet and read up on the reason the Pulsation damper is there and why they even make aftermarket ones. If the PD was a stupid Idea or wasn't needed, then they wouldn't make aftermarket PDs.

Do it right. No Bandaids.

 

Why would you "do it right" when you are actually doing it wrong?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather my car NOT burn down, because of Mazda's silly design on the PD. Yes, they are great to have - but NOT the OEM one!!! It's a POS!

I know of MANY a person who has put one on, only to pull the cap less than a week later, and the screw is already out. Loctite, oh, sure! Let's watch gleefully as our cars burn into ashes. Oh know, my injectors are getting pulsations. Get them cleaned once every 20,000 miles, and forget about it.

Don't put on a stock PD, it's a waste of money and time. If you put in a new one, you'll end up feeling "safe"...which is a very bad thing, seeing how bad they really are.