sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

So I've figured out the true cause of my previous issue; fuel starvation.

About a month ago I was removing the primary fuel rail and the bolt nearest the firewall snapped. There was still about 1/4" of the bolt left above the surface of the housing but I couldn't get it out w/ vice grips and I needed the car so I just left it alone and tightened the other bolt a little more. Everything was fine for a week or two then it started sputtering when it hit boost and finally.....

Here's the issue:
It feels like you hit fuel cut anytime you try to go faster than 40-50 mph OR you go into boost OR you try to accelerate at anything more than a snail's pace. It cranks fine, it idles fine, and it cruises fine at partial throttle. If you give it more than half throttle the AFR's go to 20 plus, and it starts losing power until it starts bucking and sputtering.

I tried removing the bolt w/ an easy out and the little piece of **** broke off in the bolt! I replaced all the grommets and o-rings for the injectors, got new fuel lines, new clamps and pressure tested both the system and the fuel pump. And everything was fine up to standard pressure (39psi) so I figured I'd test it out....

Once again you could see fuel leaking under the primary fuel rail....

So what I'm guessing is that whenever you accelerate, hit boost, or try to cruise at a high speed, the FPR raises fuel pressure to the point where the side of the rail that's missing the bolt raises up just enough to allow fuel to escape and starve the engine.

Here's the Problem
How the hell do I get a broken bolt out of my housing w/ an easy out broken off in the bolt? I've tried calling some local shops but apparently there are only bitch-*** mechanics/machinists/mobile-welders in Jacksonville Fl

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

SirCygnus

iTrader: (1)

first hit it with some pb blaster or liquid wrench. clamp down on that thing tighter than a nuns cooter, and slowly twist it out.

clamp it so the teeth actually grip.


edit... so wait... can you actually clamp down on it any more or not?

this is what you do. take out the fuel rail, then take out the bolt that can come out. find a drill bit that will fit all the way down into the bore but is as large as you can go. keep this bit in mind. take a small drill bit and drill out the center as square as you can in relation to the bore. go all the way down in there till you reach the bottom of the bore, then switch to the larger drill you tried. it out, then you get a tab and die to get the rest of the threads out from the bolt that used to be stuck in there, and then your good to go.

datz

and if that dont work drill a small hole in it lightly hammer a reverse thread drill bit, it usually bites the screw and allows you to remove it without hurting any threads.
it USUALLYTWORKS.

g14novak

iTrader: (1)

Reverse bits kick ***. I used one to get a rusty broken exhaust stud out of a housing once.

3vil

iTrader: (4)

goto sears and pick up a set of these bolt/nut removers. i like them better than easy outs


or it seems like you could replace the whole manifold for cheap in one of the many part out threads that are on here.

jjcobm

iTrader: (18)

Reverse drill bit if you don't have anything left of the bolt to remove with a vice grip. Drill through the center of the whole mess and carefully step up the bit size. It will get to a point that the remains will come out. Try not to ruin the threads already in the hole.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

That was the first thing I tried. However, because the bolt head didn't shear off evenly, one side is higher than the other, and there's no way to get a good grip on it.

That second part might work, if not for the fact that there is a broken easy-out in the center of the bolt.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

That sounds almost like an easy out....except I'm sure these reverse-threaded drill bits you speak of are not made out of the same super-shitty extra-brittle hopelessly-useless material that easy-outs are made out of.......unfortunately, since the easy out is broken off in the screw I can't try that...

Those might be useful if there was still a head on the bolt....unfortunately there is not. New manifold? wtf? The primary fuel real is not attached in any way to any manifold.....would be nice if it were though.

Drilling through the bold wasn't a problem, drilling through this easy-out....another story entirely, could someone point me in the direction of something that won't go up in smoke trying to drill through a "hardened" easy-out ?

SirCygnus

iTrader: (1)

**** it, try all the reverse drill bits you can find. break em all. then atleast you can say you really tried.

jjcobm

iTrader: (18)

Or if you have a friend with a welder, weld a bolt to the remains of the mess. You should them be able to turn it out.

datz

ive never used those bolt/nut removers, it appears that if the bolt broke in half you cant use them cause there is no head on the bolt. just what i think, never tried them.

2slow4stock

iTrader: (18)

Take a picture, show of what your working with.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

I read about the welding trick on some restoration site. As I don't have a welder, I made a few calls to some mobile welders....scared to touch it....say it can't be done.

I'll see if I can snap some pics, guess I'll just go find some "I guarantee you won't break this..." drill bits, so that way I can keep returning them until I find a way through or around this easy out...

g14novak

iTrader: (1)

Well since you broke off a easy out in it, its going to be a complete bitch to get it out. Like jjcobm said, if you have a friend with a welder, have him weld a nut to the end of it.

If you dont have access to a welder, you can pick up another fuel rail which is like 40$ or you can coat it in some devcon to seal the leak (ghetto fix).

Your choice at this point.

LOL, thats the spirit. Your either going to plug it with easy outs, or get the nut out. Win win either way.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

The leak is conditional (at some point above 40psi) so any "sealing" of the "leak" would most likely restrict fuel flow during normal driving conditions.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

Just to be thorough I'll update this w/ the resolution:

Finally found a shop near my house that was willing to "take a look at it" after I offered to remove the UIM for them in the parking lot lol.

Picked it up the next morning, apparently they went through 5 $8 drill bits and fucked up a reverse thread bit to get the easy out and screw piece out. Good news is that they didn't have to re-drill the housing since they were able to pull the old threads out. Bad news is as I was driving to work (now leak free) I was still having 90% of my previous problem

So I drive to O'rielly's after work and pull the fuel pump in the parking lot.....DAMN! looks like the sock just slid in to home plate! completely covered in what looks like orange sand (rust and varnish....hooray). So I got another fuel pump sock, installed it and drove off.

Now the problem is at about 50%, I can accelerate on par with miata's and civics before it starts going lean and acting stupid.

So I go to take a fast corner 2 blocks from home and the engine shuts off..... Try to crank it , it starts then dies almost like a large vaccum leak. I immediately think its something w/ the pump so I start to remove the rear carpet and pull it, but something tells me to crank one more time. It starts up, and idles for 5 minutes while I check connections, and put away my tools. I get in to drive off, get to the first corner and it shuts off again!

At this point I went right for the pump, as it was getting dark and I removed it, checked for blockage, verified that it was turning on when it received power, checked the filter, everything.........everything EXCEPT this tiny little ground on the back side of the pump holder...apparently the screw had worked its way a half turn loose over time, such that when gas sloshed against it, it no longer made contact and turned the pump off! Tightened it up and drove home.

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

The next day revealed that the problem was about 80% solved, I could accelerate better, but still no WOT and even high speed cruising made the AFR's climb to uncomfortable levels.

I've already sent some injectors off to be cleaned and tested, and the way that sock was looking I'm SURE the fuel filter is toast as well (its been on there 2 years anyway). While waiting for the injectors I'll drop the tank, clean it and put a lining in it so I won't have to deal w/ this BS again!

New lines, FPR, new filter, new injectors and an RTEK.......that outta do the trick!

jjwalker

Ah, the dreaded fuel sock.

What, that makes three of us this week that have had the same fuel sock issue. Amazing how that works.

TrboSpdAnt

iTrader: (5)

LOL.. Back in '05, I posted a video of my old S4 GXL that had an VERY anomalous fuel sock issue... LITERALLY.

The previous owner cheaped out and replaced the pick-up sock with....

A REEBOK sock.... Yes, there was an actual SOCK attached to my fuel sender, in tank.

My fiance pulled it out, while I was rewiring the dash (full-on stealth, firewall back, light kill)... We posted the video of us setting it on fire, in the front driveway. The funniest part is that when I posted it, originally, and told everyone that SHE actually did the extract and replacement (new pump assembly) there were guys that were green as Funk that my girl could do that...

Hell, amazingly enough, that's beyond the scope of what some dudes could do, on here.

But, I digress.

The sieve (sock) clogging up isn't really that uncommon... We're talking about a 20+ year old gas tank. There's bound to be an accumulation of crap in the tank.

If anyone has problems, like that, I recommend dropping the tank, getting it dipped and sealed at a good radiator shop (Butler Radiator, in Gainesville, FL, did mine), careful of the possibility of it eating through the OEM metal.

After that, no problems.... New 'internals' of the tank, new pump and no Reebok sock.

Gigetty.

jjcobm

iTrader: (18)

REEBOK Sock??? Man that puts a whole new twist on the fuel sock thing....

sharingan 19

iTrader: (16)

WOW! what a tard. An actual sock.....

Thats a ride-or-die chick! Many girls don't even pump their own gas, much less replace fuel pump assemblies (Had an ex ask me to get out and pump gas once....it was over shortly thereafter) My friend's girl actually cleaned my chassis and drive shaft while he and I were at work when I did my subframe removal and rear suspension revamp. Good help is hard to find, but good help w/ ovaries is like solid gold!

The sock was new-ish when I installed the FD pump 2 years ago, its not like Its been in there since 87' lol, and the one that I pulled when I replaced it didn't look nearly as bad as this one did....then again the PO had thrown a Walbro 255 in there at some point so it was prolly fairly new anyway.

I think running premix (I broke 2 omp lines about 2 months ago) may have aggrevated the situation, but I'm not sure, That stuff was on there THICK, you couldn't even make out the mesh of the filter/sock. Also, it was only like that on the top of the sock, the bottom wasn't quite as bad (at least you could see sock material)

Good advice on the tank treatment, thats my plan, been reading up on it. How much did that shop charge you? I can get the supplies for $60-75 doesn't seem too difficult, biggest problem is gonna be figuring out what to do during the 4 days of downtime needed for the tank sealer to cure....