I hope someone can help me out. I have a leak in one of the hoses going to the fuel rail. I can actually watch it drip drip drip! I tried tightening the little hose clamps I could get to but that didnt help. There is one that I could not get to.
Its on a VG if you are standing in front of the car, its the hose on the right hand side under the intake manifold.

Is there any possible way of getting to that hose to replace it without having to remove the intake manifold? I'd hate to pay the labor to do that only to replace a 50 cent hose!

At any rate I am afraid to drive the car with the leak so Im stranded untill I figure something out. I hope someone has some good advice.

Steve

 

My advice is to pull the manifold. there's more hoses on the pass side of the engine bay that you need to change too. If that one's leaking, the ones on the other side aren't far behind.. you need to change all of the hoses.

the whole job only takes a couple of hours. it's a DIY project that anyone with decent hand tools and a brain can accomplish.

 

If someone were to change all of the hoses according to the above, how many feet of fuel lines would he needs?

 

probably about 1.5 feet.. I'd buy about 5 feet so you can change the long lines going from the hard fuel lines on the firewall over to the filter and then to the fuel rail. it's only a few bucks more to just replace all of the lines and be done with it for another 10 years.

 

Cool, thanks. Good call.

 

I missed the reply email! Thanks for the advice. I'm actually planning on selling the car, but I want to fix the fuel leak 1st but I also want to save money. The trouble is today is the first day that we're approaching the freezing mark, we've been below with a windchill in the negative. I have no garrage to work in. So if I could just change the hose, while others are not leaking It would make it easier. Its just hard to get to. I agree, chaning them all while your in there makes sense, I just don't know if I want to invest that time and money into a car Im selling. However I would like a clear conscience in selling the car to someone.


Any tips or shortcuts in removing the intake manifold? Do I have to drain all the coolant and would I have to spend $50 for a new gasket? Im afraid that I might end up with an intake leak which would make selling the car more difficult.

Thanks guys!

 

You should only jave to do the upper plenum gasket.
Which is available seperately at the dealer for about $10

 

That would be cool, When I checked at the local autoparts store and asked for an intake manifold gasket they all quoted around $50. So what I need to ask for is the upper plenum gasket then? That would save a few bucks.

Do I need special high pressure fuel line hose for injectors or just regular fuel line hose? The guy at autozone had two types one was like $2.00 a foot or something while the other much cheaper.

Thanks again for the help!

 

Yeah, you should be able to just take off the upper manifold and get to the hose. Fuel pressure should peak at 43 so if the hose can handle around that pressure it should work.

The auto parts stores sell the entire gasket kit or something because they always have a high price on them. Most dealerships sell them for around 10 dollars like said above so that'd be the way to go.

Hey Matt, why is your name not blue anymore?

 

be careful also when doing this job. ive taken my upper manifold off three times in the past week because i keep doing something wrong. it first started with the injector then, the smell of gas because i was leaking in the rubber hoses. when it is cold outside, rubber hoses get real fragile and break easy. i broke the hose that comes out of the back of the manifold to the top of hte valve cover. it just broke because of the cold. it is not that hard of a job, just time consuming to take off the upper manifold. it should be no problem really. good luck. i bought my hose from fuel pressure for $3/ft. the guy there felt bad for me because i kept going in there with parts that i broke.

people who have done this job: do you guys take the fuel rail off to take the rubber hoses off. i tried to take them off with the fuel rails still intact but i couldnt. any tips to getting them off without taking off the fuel rails.

 

use high pressure FI line.
The gasket sets at most parts stores are the upper and lower intake gaskets but you will only need the upper

 

i've taken the hose off with the fuel rails on the car before. it takes a bit of work to get them off. i usually use some channel locks or something to get the hose to spin on the rail then i try pulling it off. that usually works but if all else fails you can just cut the hose off of the rail and put some new stuff on.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Your exactly right the cold weather did those old hoses (89) in.

Thanks

 

It was mentioned previously, but be sure the parts store sells you fuel injection hose. It is several $ a foot. Regular fuel line can't take the pressure.

 

Also, the hoses you are talking about "breaking" are all made of rubber. Since rubber doesn't normally "break" unless it's really old and deteriorated, it's probably just as well you're replacing it all.

 

Very true, just waiting for a warmer day to get it done, anyone know off hand what diameter hose I'd need? Then I could have it before hand.

Thanks

 

Do you know if you have to drain coolant from the engine block when you remove the upper manifold for an 89? My Chilton manual says you do for an 85-88 but does not mention it for the 89. The Haynes does not make this distinction. Hopefully Matt or someone else will know.

Thanks!