RE: [T3] running rough (update)

["Jim Adney" <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 4 Apr 2002, at 20:25, nathan howell wrote:

> >I have new injectors for $40, but yours can probably be fixed by
> carefully 
> >cutting off the crimp sleeve without cutting into the hose nipple
> >underneath. Then you can just use a piece of standard 5/16" hose and a
> hose >clamp to replace it. Remember: You MUST be careful when cutting
> off the >crimp sleeve, or you'll make it impossible to get the new hose
> to seal.

> How should I go about cutting off the hose, I haven't looked real close
> but isn't metal?

Yes, they're metal. I take the injectors off the car and carefully clamp them in 
a vise. Then carefully cut thru the sleeves in a helical pattern so as to loosen 
them completely without cutting into the metal barb inside. After that you 
can slide the hose and sleeve remains off and replace the hose. I can do this 
for you if you can do without the car for awhile.

> >Don't try to just replace the one piece that is leaking now. If you do,
> >you'll find new leaks in the next fitting down when you put it back
> >together. This is inevitable from the disturbance you must cause just
> to >remove the injector. In the end you can do everything in 2-4 hours,
> or end >up replacing one piece at a time and take the whole day.  
> 
> The main hose in the engine compartment looks fairly new and clean, so
> all I need to do is replace -ALL- of the crimped hoses on the fuel
> injectors or at least the one and two cylinder injector hoses?

If the main hoses, on both sides of the injector Tee are pretty new, yes you 
could get by with just replacing the injector hoses on one side. I know it's a 
pain, but I'd replace at least all four, and any other attached hose that 
seemed questionable. Hose is relatively cheap, but engine fires are pretty 
final.

I had a few bad experiences when I first started doing this, chasing new 
leaks around a system where I thought I could just replace one hose. That 
experience taught me that I was foolish to try to get by.

Later, I bought a "new" square which burst a hose on New Years Day in the 
middle of nowhere. I ended up outside, in a 20 mph wind at minus 20F trying 
to replace the only hose that the PO had NOT replaced. With frozen fingers 
and an impatient wife and child waiting, this took me about 2 hours of time 
where I was nearly reduced to tears.

Why had they replaced every other hose? The answer was clear: It was the 
hardest to get at. I would have replaced it earlier myself, but it was rather 
hidden and I had not noticed it.  This was circa 1990, and this was the only 
OE hose left on the car. It was 27 years old and it picked THAT DAY to die.

You DON'T want to find yourself in that same position!

-
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711-3054
USA

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