Yank your Van's fuel injectors in 1 hour!
Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 6:51 pm
So in the midst of getting this Van ready for a 5 week trip, I smelled gas working on it today. #$%&! The #1 fuel injector is leaking. I had just put the throttle body tube back on after cleaning it and replacing the valve cover gasket. So, I gave myself 90 minutes to pull the injectors and bring them to a local EFI shop for cleaning and refurbishing. Here's how I did it.
Stick a rubber hose on the radiator drain to save the coolant, open the valve and put the hose in a bucket. About a gallon comes out. While its draining: Pull the driver's seat. Pull the floor frame thing that covers the throttle body, and of course the battery cover. Disconnect the rubber intake tube, pull the bolts holding the metal intake tube to the valve cover. Disconnect the half dozen connectors and yank the metal tube. The 4 throttle body bolts are easy and quick access. Don't disconnect the throttle cables like the book says - just use a bungee cord to the passenger side to pull it out of your way. Now you are looking at the fuel rail. The book wants you to disconnect the main fuel lines on each end and pull the whole rail out. Don't. Use two slim flat bladed screwdrivers to reach down and methodically pick at the wire bails holding each fuel injector electrical connector on. Disconnect the connectors and label either #1 and #3, or #2 and #4 (so you can put them back on with no doubt). Then disconnect the fuel rail bolts and lift it up a bit - flexing the main fuel lines and easily giving you room to grab the injectors and wiggle them off the rail. Bag them individually with 1-4 labelled on the bags for the injector guy. Done. I made it to the shop with 15 minutes to spare. The #1 injector's internal red O ring was trashed - coming off in shreds and obviously the source of the leak. I will get them back cleaned, with new filters, new seals and O rings and a printout of their flow before and after. The engine will run much more smoothly and with more power I expect.
Stick a rubber hose on the radiator drain to save the coolant, open the valve and put the hose in a bucket. About a gallon comes out. While its draining: Pull the driver's seat. Pull the floor frame thing that covers the throttle body, and of course the battery cover. Disconnect the rubber intake tube, pull the bolts holding the metal intake tube to the valve cover. Disconnect the half dozen connectors and yank the metal tube. The 4 throttle body bolts are easy and quick access. Don't disconnect the throttle cables like the book says - just use a bungee cord to the passenger side to pull it out of your way. Now you are looking at the fuel rail. The book wants you to disconnect the main fuel lines on each end and pull the whole rail out. Don't. Use two slim flat bladed screwdrivers to reach down and methodically pick at the wire bails holding each fuel injector electrical connector on. Disconnect the connectors and label either #1 and #3, or #2 and #4 (so you can put them back on with no doubt). Then disconnect the fuel rail bolts and lift it up a bit - flexing the main fuel lines and easily giving you room to grab the injectors and wiggle them off the rail. Bag them individually with 1-4 labelled on the bags for the injector guy. Done. I made it to the shop with 15 minutes to spare. The #1 injector's internal red O ring was trashed - coming off in shreds and obviously the source of the leak. I will get them back cleaned, with new filters, new seals and O rings and a printout of their flow before and after. The engine will run much more smoothly and with more power I expect.