I have everything off of the top of my engine, including the solenoid rack/hose nest. Since I am into things this far I am going to just go ahead and replace some items, but I had questions about the following:



Should the turbo bolts be replaced or just all of the nuts and studs(as needed)? The bolts that hold the turbo assy to the exhaust manifold.



Should the injector air bleed sockets be replaced(plastic things below the injectors). Mine aren't cracked but on one of my 2nd gens they fell apart when I took them out. Are these on the 3rd gens just as prone to failure?



Fuel hoses under UIM. I don't know which ones were normally replaced in the recall. I would like to replace any of these that weren't. There are three of them.

Hose to pulsation damper

Hose from rail one to rail two(the one with banjo fitting)

Hose from the pressure regulator



Also, 1[sup]st[/sup] and 3[sup]rd[/sup] above look like regular fuel hose. But the recall states that some of the fuel hoses were replaced with those made of more heat resistant material. Can these be replaced with regular fuel hose or should all of these parts be considered dealer items. The 2[sup]nd[/sup] one above looks in good condition. Do people generally replace this one as a preventative item?



Also, I think my turbo control valve (in exhaust manifold) is ok but wanted to double check. With the diaphragm off if you move the arm it clangs like a bell. Normal? In searches some said that theirs made noise when the arm from the diaphragm needed adjustment but is it normal for it to have looseness within the two plates on the flapper.





For those curious:

I was replacing precat with downpipe and broke the upper front stud off of the turbo exhaust outlet. Since I had to take the turbos off I thought I would replace the LIM gasket, since the original paper one is still on there and I think I have a small intake leak that I can't find. Things just sort of snowballed from there.

*I replaced the air-bleeds with a rebuild at about 90k. Like yours, my old ones were in decent shape but I figured I was in there...why not. IIRC, they don't cost much.

*Same rationale for the fuel hoses. You might strongly consider replacing the FPD (not really cheap) or just deleting it. They have a reputation for leaking with age and have been blamed for some fires. Banzai Racing, a reputable shop IMO, has a simple "how-to" on the deletion and insists there are no issues. I replaced mine. Your call.

*Good call on the manifold gasket.

*If you don't know the history and haven't already, consider pulling the injectors and having them cleaned and flow-tested while your in there.

ok, thanks.



I'm going to have to make some calls and find somebody in my area that will clean/test injectors. Every time I have one of my cars this far apart I think about injectors but don't do anything with them since I don't know anyone in my area that does this sort of thing. One time I did do a volume test myself, but it took a while to setup everything.

If you want a reference, I sent my injectors here: http://kgparts.com/index.php?page=fuelinjectclean

It was only about a week turn-around time and they come back with new 'O' rings, pintel caps and before/after flow rates sheet. They were referred to me by a friend and I was happy.

I think Speeder (Nat) also sent his there a while back during his rebuild.

That's a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. Don't think I have the patience right now to send them off and wait though, since I don't think I have a problem in this area.



On the pressure regulator, do you have any opinion on doing the Banzai elimination of the stock one and then adding this one from Marren in the fuel hose before it goes into the hard piping on the top of the engine, i.e. cut the hose and put it in line using a T fitting. Some cars have them in this position. Seen some of the Taurus have them here. Looks like it would be a better quality unit for less money and in a position subject to less heat.



Marrren FPD

I got a steal on a new FPD (IIRC ~$50 shipped) and replaced mine. I only learned of the Banzai deletion after I'd bought it anyway. It sounds like the OEM FPD is just a poor design. Although my original FPD (15 yrs old at the time) never gave me any issues, the diaphrams tend to fail with age and heat and leak fuel. Of course the proximity to the turbo hot-sides is a formula for bad things to happen.

To answer your question more directly....seems like if you can put the Marren FPD in line similar to the factory one, then you shouldn't ever have any worries.

The stock FPD looks like a little piece of junk and I guess it is with all of the problems reported with it. I can't bring myself to pay that much for something I won't have confidence in anyway. I'd be paying way more than $50 to get one. I'm going look into the elimination and possibly the Marren.