situation, and probable reasons



Situation: On my way to work, I smell gas. I figure it was running rich or something, because I recently adjusted the idle, and it was running bad. (Later, I found it wasn't idling good because of a vacuum hose I knocked loose (again).) Got to work, and boss man who was in front of me said he smelled gas, and thinks it's his car. I agree. I think I was wrong.

Lunch break. On my way back. Still running weird (vacuum hose), and I smell gas, so I pull over in parking lot. Hear fluid, see fluid gushing from under car. Shut it off, open the hood, can't really see anything. Smell fluid, kinda might be gas.



Probable reason: I checked the fuel hoses to both rails, and both seemed secure (recently replaced these, last weekend). The only thing I could think off would be the primary fuel rail coming loose. I was going to replace my pulsation damper, and bought one from Banzai that came with the fuel rail, all attached together. Looked a little different than the one I had, but it worked. The old one had a raised portion for one of the mounting bolts. The new one mounted flat, but the bolts were for the raised one, so it was kinda loose. It held in place, just wiggled slightly, so I figured it would be ok. This is the only thing I can think of that might have came loose. When it gets home, I will look under the car. If I can't see anything, I'll have to remove the UIM again. damn.



If I do end up having to remove the UIM again, do I need a new gasket? I just put a new one on.

you can probably reuse the gasket since it's new.



I think you're probably right on the money, that needs to be tight to keep the rail firmly seated on the injectors.



please be careful, it's not uncommon for people to lose their fc's to engine fires because of fuel leaks like these... the exhaust is quite

hot and just below the lower intake manifold.

yeah, put different bolts/washers so the fuel rail is tight, that might be your problem, even if its not you should make the rail tight



mike

yeah, if it doesn't catch fire before the tow truck arrives, I think I'll be fine...man, now I'm worried



I guess I'll have to make a trip to ace hardware and find the right bolts...

also remember that the primary fuel rail has a black spacer that goes between the rail and the intermediate housing, if you don't have the spacer in there the bolts will probably run out of threads before making it tight, and your rail will be at the wrong angle for the inejctors to seal properly.



you can see the spacer in this pic right under the scissor handle:

http://pengaru.com/~swivel/cars/rx-7...3/IMG_2144.JPG



it's common for people to miss it, that might be the only thing wrong... would be nice if it was https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png no hardware store visit required.

Make sure the phenolic spacer is there

yeah it often falls down when you pull the rail off with the bolts removed and you'll never notice it was ever there til you go to put it back together.

Spacer Part Number: N326-13-158

hey thats my job!



mike

https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png You were too slow today!!!1

ok, enough with the spacer...I got it on there



but if you notice in your picture how one bolt is taller that the other, as the threads stop, because the fuel rail has a raised portion...the new one does not have a raised portion, and the threads run out before it gets tight



I guess I could get different bolts, or a bunch of washers/spacers



it just royally sucks that I'm gonna have to take the whole bitch apart again...I'll probably screw something else up in the process https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub..._DIR#>/sad.png I already had to steal like 2 or 3 pins and clips from my parts car

nah, super easy you have done it once, this time it will go a lot faster



mike

nah, super easy you have done it once, this time it will go a lot faster



mike [/quote]

any tips to make it go faster? it takes me 2 forevers just to label everything, and I'm smart enough to know not to trust my memory...well, I'll just take my time, and do my best to do everything correctly; I have a tendency to be impatient, then crap like this happens as a result



I honestly was surprised that it ran the first time, so it could be worse



and would you suggest using spacer/washers to make the old bolts work, or buy new bolts?

you can either buy washers or shorter bolts, as long as the rail gets held down it doesnt matter



mike

cool, thanks

another question while I have the floor (it's heavy to hold): to make my idle go up, do I screw the adjuster in or out? since I've had these vacuum leaks and such, I couldn't really tell, it just wanted to stall

you turn the screw on top of the tbody out



mike

thanks...I'll do that

cool, you're getting good at this https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/bigok.gif



taking a safe approach to making these mods (asking lots of questions), good job

if there's one thing I'm good at, it's being thorough in asking questions...to the point of annoyance https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png



I figure if other folks know something I don't, I'll try to squeeze every bit of information out of them that I could use

if there's one thing I'm good at, it's being thorough in asking questions...to the point of annoyance https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png



I figure if other folks know something I don't, I'll try to squeeze every bit of information out of them that I could use [/quote]

it's not annoying at all, it's actually inspiring...



These types of threads are far more interesting and informational than many others... and useful for future members who might also experience the same problem.

yeah plus you can look back and say, "hey i did this myself"



mike

wow, you guys make me feel warm and fuzzy...earlier today I wanted to chuck the car off a cliff, if such a thing exists in this flat Floridian landscape...now I want to get it done right, just to prove that I can



this is great because me wife doesn't really understand it, considering I'm basically ignoring her when I'm doing the car stuff; and people tell me I made a mistake by buying something that needs fixing



if it wasn't for you guys, I would probably have swapped this thing for something more conventional, or I would have put the Mazda mechanic's kid through college

I think I have taken my UIM off more than 20 times in the 9 months that I have owned my car. I only tagged the stuff the first time I did it, after that its easy to see where everything goes. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to get it off now. Maybe Banzai has the right bolts for the pulsation damper? Are they different between S4 and S5?

even if he did, I think it would be easier to get them locally, rather than wait for them to be sent here

you dont know how much i just learned by reading this..

so any luck, is it keeping the fuel in the fuel system?



mike