I am going to replace the fuel hose to the rail
 

Before I start yanking out the hose, would anyone tell me if I should be able to replace the hose without pulling the plenum? The local dealership told me I would have to pull the plenum, but after analyzing the setup it seemed that it could have been done with the plenum on the engine.
I have VG and the hose that leaks gas is the one that supplies fuel rail from the filter, on the driver side of the engine. I figure if I will be able to use long nose plyers to slip the new hose onto the fuel rail, than all I need would be to unscrew the bolt on the back of the head that holds the bracket and steel pipe, unscrew the clamp on the fuel rail, pull the hose off the rail, replace the hose on the steel pipe and put back the hose.
I have 11" long nose plyers and a very long phillips screwdriver for the clamp and I thought that if it is not possible to tighten the clamp, I would bend the screwdriver into Z shape to work it... What do you guys think?

The reason I am doing this is that in this cold weather that we have up here in Canada this hose leaks and it smells gasoline in the cabine, this happens as soon at temp drops below -10 centigrade.

well,
you could try it the easier way first and if that doesn't work then you'd have to take the plenum off. if it's just the hose from the fuel filter to the fuel rail you might be able to do it. but if you need to replace the hoses that connect the fuel rails there's no way in hell that it can be done without removing the plenum.
i know what you mean about the weather man...it's freakin' ridiculous!

Thanks -shock211-. But what is involved in pulling the plenum? My guess would be a new gasket at least... Do I need to tork the bolts back into places with a gauge or normal 'feel it right' approach would work? I hate vacuume leaks...


Yee-haa! I just promoted myself into Maxima Fanatic. :calder:

There is a torquing pattern and specs. Get yourself a Haynes manual at Pepboys or Autozone and read through it to get an idea of what all is involved.

well u would need a special gasket for the upper plenum which is only at the dealership!! bout 15 or 20 dollars. I had my mechanic do it for me recently to damn cold round here. U can replace the vaccum, and fuel line hoses without removing the plenum. just remember once you change the hose leading to the front fuel rail to not make two sections just use one hose instead it will save u down the line.

Did you mean, not to use the hose from Nissan and just to buy a longer piece to attach directly to the filter? I already made a mistake and bought the short one from Nissan, but I think once it is good for 10 years, it won't create too much trouble anyway...

If you need to remove the plenum make sure you get the upper AND lower manifold gaskets. I had the same problem with the short hose directly connected to the fuel rail. If the one leaking is the one comeing from the gas filter you should be able to replace it withought removing anything else.
Good luck

if you are removing the upper plenum then you ONLY need the upper plenum gasket. The lower gasket is only needed if you are removing the entire intake.

Thanks for info guys!
I almost gave up the idea of replacing the hose with the plenum on the engine, when shopping at Costco last weekend I came across a set of 11" pliers angled at 90-45-20-0 degrees and all for about US$11-12. They must be able to do the task.

Let us know how it goes! i got a gas leak too..