fuel injector leak

ras50gt

Member
Oct 25, 2005
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I was driving around my project 88 GT that I just bought about a month ago. I can smell fuel, and was worried about that when I went to get it smogged, but it passed fine. However, I looked under the hood and was inspecting for any fuel leaks, etc and found that the front injector on the passenger side has a small fuel leak. Also, the front injector on the driver side appears to be leaking too but not as much as the other side. Does this always mean the injectors are bad? or maybe loose? Maybe they need to be tightened? The rest seem fine and I dont see any other leaks. The car drives smooth, idles perfect, etc. If I do need to replace them, all injectors must be replaced? The intake must come off right? If possible, can I just replace those two? Seems like the intake could stay on for at least the passenger side one.
 
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Fuel injector seal kits with 2 O rings and a pintle cap (Borg-Warner P/N 274081) are available at Pep Boys auto parts. Cost is about $2.74 per kit.. The following are listed at the Borg-Warner site ( BWD Automotive ) as being resellers of Borg-Warner parts:

Parts Plus - Premium Auto Parts & Accessories or Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper Quality Parts & Service - Home of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Group or Pep Boys - Parts, Service, and So Much More or Federated Auto Parts - Automotive Aftermarket

Most of the links above have store locators for find a store in your area.

Use motor oil on the O rings when you re-assemble them & everything will slide into place. The gasoline will wash away any excess oil that gets in the wrong places and it will burn up in the combustion chamber.

The pintle caps fit either injectors with a pin sticking out the injector end or 4 with more tiny holes in the injector end
The pintle caps hold the O ring in place and keep it from sliding off and into the manifold. If the correct pintle caps are used, they do not have any effect on the injector spray pattern or engine performance.

Heating the pintle caps in boiling water makes it much easier to install them.



It isnt necessary to remove the fuel rails, but it does make the job easier. You will need some extra tools: look in the A/C repair section for the fuel line tools. They look like little plastic top hats. You will need the 1/2" & 5/8" ones. The hat shaped section goes on facing the large part of the coupling. Then you press hard on the brim until it forces the sleeve into the coupling and releases the spring. You may need someone to pull on the line while you press on the coupling. Put some motor oil on them when you put the line back together.

See
LISLE AIR CONDITIONING/FUEL LINE DISCONNECT TOOL SET (37000) for more information

LIS-37000.jpg
 
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If you have two leaking, there are probably more leaking that you can't see. The 88-89 model year injectors tend to seep between the metal body and plastic insulator. When they seep, you replace them, they are not repairable. Most of the time the junkyards will sell you 19 lb injectors for $10-$15 each.

There are 6 bolts that hold the upper intake on, two of them are under the 5.0 Logo cover plate on top. Many times you can reuse the upper intake manifold gasket since it seems to come off cleanly without sticking to anything.
 
If you have two bad ones, but better just fix all of them. Preventive maintence is very important in my book. I got screwed once because I didn't replace a 2.00 peice of bulk style hose on my heater rails on hte passenger side intake. That thing took a dump on me at 3:00am in a cole night. That was not fun limping home trying not to over heat my car. It took 2 hours to get home for what is normally a 30 minute ride.

After that night, I go after all replacement parts on 5.0L's.
 
get some o rings and slap them on there, if ur worried about the injectors, go to a pick an pull and pocket some, just check to see how many miles are on the car
mine used to leak on the driverside all i did was replace the o rings, and yes u can change just one or two injectors