Anyone?

 

haven't opened mine, maybe i should to take a look...curious as well.

(4) yeah just press light to release pressure and tighten to keep in place.

 

Not sure exactly why you took it apart. If you have a vacuum leak, there are methods of tracking it down. If you isolated the vacuum leak to the intake gasket, then I would toss it, clean both mating surfaces well, make sure they are flat and have no damage, then reassemble with a new gasket.

As to the external engine dirt, clean everything well and you should be able to see the source of leaks, if any.

 

As to the external engine dirt, clean everything well and you should be able to see the source of leaks, if any.

OK so I've reassembled everything and the car seems to be running just fine. As for the dirtiness...if I had to guess, I'd say it is the fuel pressure needle. I never examined it before, but I noticed now that it lets off a fair amount of fuel. Fuel runs down its sides. If I take the cap off, it bubbles and leaks fuel for a minute or so when I turn off the engine.

Is it normal for it to leak like that continuously more or less?? Doesn't seem right to me. But if I try to tighten the cap, it doesn't go much further than about half-way down the threads. Any advice?

 

Hey thanks guys.

I took it apart because was just wanting to explore the engine a bit, and also check injectors for dirt. Also wanted better access to some hoses to look at them. Mainly just exploring. I'll do some other vacuum leak tests once reassembled.

Ok so for cleaning, should I used wd40 instead of a damp cloth? I thought the water would just increase risk of corrosion assuming it's aluminium manifold and gasket.

 

WD40 doesnt belong anywhere near internal/induction parts. Silicone is a known oxygen sensor contaminant. There are numerous volatile aerosol parts cleaners and solvents available at your local home center or auto parts store. Some labeled for such uses. Parts cleaner, carburetor cleaner, intake cleaner, throttle body cleaner, etc. There is a separate cleaner for the outside of the engine, engine degreaser.


This one is one of the strongest ones I have found. Compared multiple types on an intake.

 

WD40 doesnt belong anywhere near internal/induction parts. Silicone is a known oxygen sensor contaminant.

Regular WD-40 does NOT contain silicone.
Agree with the rest of your post.

 

So can I clean the intake gasket with the aid of regular wd40, and then wipe it off clean with a J-Cloth? I saw "humble mechanic" clean his head gasket with wd40-trigger pro, so I was going to assume its ok on an intake gasket ?

 

It is also dirty.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5N37xl3hFMqUFY4VndVWVBiMHc

As for the needle valve, what should I do about it. My torquelite app has not shown any drop in fuel pressure, but I had -5 to -10% lower fuel trim for the first drive cycles after reassembling everything.

 

There were also these markings made by someone or the factory on the needle threads as if to indicate where to screw to...but none on cap to match it with...

 

Assuming the valve is fine and it is just the cap, I'm gonna go gets some valve caps...if I can't find one that fits it, I'm thinking I may just take some rubber hose with a roughly fitting diameter and somehow seal off one end. I'll try and tighten it to the valve using a small hose clamp..

 

If its leaking its definitely not ok. The cap is not for sealing, just for dust and foreign objects.

If the needle or thread is bad, it needs to be replaced. No way around that. Probably pushed on it with a nail or screwdriver too many times.

 

How do I replace that? I can find fuel pressure sensors on eEuroparts, but not the needle valve...or do i replace the whole rail....(****)

What is the consequence of having it a little leaky? What symptoms should I look for other than seeing it leaks a little?

 

Saab services this as a complete rail assembly, BUT that is not to say another gm or other products valve wont fir.

Consequences of fuel leak? In a word, FIRE. Other symptoms may include fumes and worse fuel economy.

 

I smell fumes that for sure....fuel economy I've been testing and if anything has been lower by a bit. Maybe that is just normal variance but point being I think it's a very small leak not enough to affect fuel eco.

I will see if I can find some cap bolts or something like that to close it.

My understanding right now is the only purpose of that needle valve is to release pressure manually when you may want to, and it shouldn't vent "naturally" when a certain pressure is reached. If that is so, I don't see why not just seal the leak a bit further down the line, at the cap itself instead of the needle mechanism.

 

Most caps will not seal, and fuel may run past the threads. But if one insists on rigging, I believe the port may be JIC 37° -4. There are hydraulic test caps made with this thread and correct flare angle for JIC. Can't confirm beyond a reason of a doubt.

 

Most caps will not seal, and fuel may run past the threads. But if one insists on rigging, I believe the port may be JIC 37° -4. There are hydraulic test caps made with this thread and correct flare angle for JIC. Can't confirm beyond a reason of a doubt.

For the record everyone...I did try and look around for fasteners that could possibly help me in the event that I couldn't resolve the valve core problem.

I found that on my aero, if I were wanting to attached a flare nut to the valve, or regular nuts/couplings and somehow seal the valve, that my threads are 7/16" - 20. Those nuts are easy to find, but the flare valves, couplings and other less basic fastening stuff is way harder to get. Would have to order online probably or get custom. But worth knowing in case you have no other choice I guess:lol: I am not sure what the flare angles are though...

If you could explain the spec you quoted, would be appreciated.

 

Update

I ended up getting a schader valve removing tool and just had to tighten the core a bit. I sawed off the attachments on the tool as it was a 4 in 1 tool, but that stuff gets in the way in this tight locations...Fuel smell gone, no drips, everything is dry.

I took it for my test laps that I use to test things on. Interesting was that the fuel economy spiked to 16L/100km by the end of the first lap of city driving, and then it got down to within norm (14.5L/100km). It also was much more stable than usual at that point. Normally what happens however, is the eco by the end of the first lap is about 12-13L/100km, and by the end of second lap, 13 to high 14L/100km. Never seen that. It makes me wonder if fuel eco data is taken from emissions.

Fuel pressure according to torque lite app stayed exact same at all rpms...throttle is same still (2% less than pre-TB cleaning I just did).

I did however get p2187...I was getting this code a lot in the fall, and half the time it was accompanied by rough idles on hot start that got progressively worse and worse untill it started to choke on idle sometimes. Winter has been better in the sense that I'd get it less often. I have a theory regarding this...I read somewhere that if the hot engine is turned on after a long time being hot and off, it can evapourate some fuel in vicinity of the fuel rail. The car rough idles on hot start due to running off more vapours :S . I wonder if since I just tightened up that valve, its now trapping those vapours that may have otherwise been let go. Anyone have thoughts about that or is it just "car-broscience".

 

Update

Yea so I went to see what would happen after leaving the hot engine off for about an hour. The code is still there, but not accompanied by the dreaded rough idle. I will resume the rough idle topic in another thread that I have about it.

 

I didn't mean those parts generally are uncommon. But 7/16" is hard...and when I add that I need fine thread too, people laugh a bit. I went to the biggest hardware chain stores as well as major industrial distribution centers.

 

You dont ask for 7/16. You ask for "dash 4" test cap. Any place that sells and services hydraulics and hoses. I have drawers of them in our bolt bin. The vendor comes out and restocks them on a regular basis, i just never thought to grab one to test it.

 

Hm thats neat I never came across that type of way of specifying. On all the labels I only saw inches and mm...your memory serves you well though I guess, because I spent some time testing out a whole variety of hex nuts that would fit that valve, just for starters to see what sizes I need...7/16, or dash-4 as you say, is just right!