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Smells strong of gas. Mechanic looked at it and saw fuel pressure regulator wet. He believes it has gone bad. He has never seen one leak right there. Any thoughts.
Smells strong of gas. Mechanic looked at it and saw fuel pressure regulator wet. He believes it has gone bad. He has never seen one leak right there. Any thoughts.
Could be that. My first guess would be that one (or more) of your injectors are bad.
I think that a key question here is when and where are you smelling the gas? Only on start up? At all times when running the vehicle? When the vehicle is off? Inside the vehicle or outside?
Could be fuel pressure pulsation dampers. My '02 reeked of gas yesterday as I drove home. Just that morning, I noticed the car was taking an extra second or so to start, so I knew something was up. After shutting down the car and removing the engine cover, suddenly this started happening (hopefully attached video downloads). I haven't found the screw yet! Ordered 2 new dampers and 4 new washers.
Could be? Definitely is! The little screw that in middle of fuel damper isn't critical to function. It merely sets a maximal excursion for the diaphragm, but the damper will continue working even without the screw. If it leaks like in the video, the internal diaphragm is toast.
I happen to have a pair of fuel dampers on the way for my upcoming fuel injector project. Looks easier to pull the fuel rails with the dampers removed. May as well replace the 2002 dampers while I'm in there. My right damper is missing its little screw anyways.
I agree, mine definitely is trash!! My "could be" reference was in response to the overall thread "smelling like gas".
I'm embarrassed to admit how many old Ford pickup trucks I thought were stinking of gas on my drive home. I was thinking, "dang it -- every single vehicle I got behind today STUNK." It wasn't until I got home when I realized.....it was me.
Mine have arrived from the UAE (Megazip). Reading about failures of the fuel dampers and fires in Mazdas makes me wonder if these should be considered wear items and replaced before failure of their rubber diaphragm. Maybe swap them out after 100K/10 years? Mine are from 2002. Probably just as well they are going to get swapped out during my fuel injector experiment.
I was going to decide after pulling mine out. I think if the gasketed screw were still present, the leak would not have happened, or at least it would have been more of a smell and less of a geyser.
My theory: if the diaphragm is good, but your screw has vibrated out and left the building, you will have a healthy fuel leak eventually when the diaphragm finally fails. But if the diaphragm is bad, but the screw is still present, the screw gasket will still be compressed because the screw will no longer lift. You'll know your pulsation dampers are no longer damping, but you shouldn't expect a significant leak. Fix at your leisure.
Thus, for me, just monitoring the screw seems adequate. If screw missing, then you're on the clock.
I think, screw or no screw, once the diaphragm breaks, it's going to leak. Only the diaphragm forms the seal. The screw might limit excursion, but it won't stop a leak.
This may well be like a radiator hose - replace before it fails.
Once one breaks, we're set up for an engine compartment fire party.
My right damper is missing its screw - Lord know how long it has been that way.
The screw has an o-ring under it. If diaphragm breaks, the fuel pressure can no longer keep the screw up, so the spring above the diaphragm will keep the screw seated on the o-ring. Thus, no leak.
Can the screw be locked down without changing the adjustment? If so, we should check them periodically for tightness, before the screw disappears and the limit of travel on the diaphragm is gone. An unlimited diaphragm will likely leak sooner than a limited one.
Finally received the 2 new dampers and 4 new metal gaskets. Relatively easy install. Driver's side the hardest, as enough items had to be loosened to allow the large wire harness to be moved to the side for removal of the damper. 22mm crow's foot worked wonderfully.
What actually took the longest was having to go to the auto parts store for a new vacuum hose. My old one kept splitting as I attempted to re-install!
On the pulsation damper that still had the screw installed, I removed the screw. Two observations: (1) the screw was not at all easy to remove, appeared to have thread lock residual, and (2) there was a rather healthy o-ring still under the screw. Thus, I still feel that if your screw is present, you should not expect a gross fuel leak if the inner diaphragm fails. I do not know why one of my screws was missing (I have never touched it).
12-11-19, 09:01 AM
02 sc430 smelling like gas
