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87 GL EA82 wagon - new to me running problem


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Just experienced a FP failure 2 days ago, fortunately right in my driveway. Week & half before was first instance but didn't think of a pump at first as the starter wasn't engaging to restart engine. Cranked the cold engine over, engine would rev up to about 2K rpm then die. One cell in battery was a little low so I thought maybe my 10mo old battery had a shorted cell perhaps.

Charged the battery after topping up the cells, load test showed battery good. Hmmm........on a hunch looked to FP & sure enough pressure was much lower than 50psi with return line pinched off. Didn't bother testing running fuel pressure - went right to replace FP. And filter. Wix 33471.

Vaguely recall that FP was replaced some 6-7 yrs ago(this is my 87 EA82 SPFI car BTW). Replaced the Airtex E8312 with a Carter P70304(made in USA) that I had squirreled away in the garage.

BTW. Driving down 15 fwy last month noticed intermittent power loss on steep uphills & reduced power as well before this complete FP failure. 

Edited by czny
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I should have a chance to get a test run in over this weekend.  The only thing left to do now is solder the 2 wire from an old Subaru connector to the new Carter connector.  A whole list of other things going on has been making my progress on this a bit slower than typical.

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Test run done.  It's not the fuel pump.

Last night, I ran the new pump, pressure looked good,etc.
Today, I started the car and the pressure was bopping up and down again, 20 to 22 PSI.  Ran great and normal, until I got it warm and decided to take the bigger risk of a main road with a steep uphill grade, when the sputtering began under load.  Made it home ok at least.

Debating next move...  Swap the pressure regulator, or the injector?

I installed the Carter P5000 in the space between the rear set and the floor, so it is not in the weather.
 

Fuel Pump34.jpg

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Mine is also an 87 SPFI GL for comparison.

Few yrs ago had the crank angle sensor in distributor start giving out. Car would cut out under lighter loads as things got worse. Swapped distrib & all was good then. Crank angle sensor was failing. ECU codes 11 & 13.

 

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OK!  I replaced the fuel pressure regulator.  I have a spare SPFI manifold I traded for the carburetor one I had on my 86 GL.  Took the regulator off that spare one, which looks like it wasn't very old / low miles  /indoors most of it's life.

Car fired right up.  Pressure nice and steady, at 24PSI - which is a little high.  Drive to the bottom of my safest "test" hill.  Checked the vacuum line to the bottom of the pressure regulator, oops, I left it off.  Connected.  Pressure more normal 22PSI.   Still nice and steady.  Drive up the hill, NO PROBLEM!   Loop around for another test, and no problem.  Took a run up the steeper bigger higher speed hill nearby, and no problem.

Pressure now at 20PSI, but it is running fine as it always has.

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hmmmm....   Well, I probably should investigate what is wrong with the bad regulator, and figure out what to do to fix it.  Since I have no doubt that they are NLA, since the fuel pumps are NLA.

 

Other thing to note - The stock pump draws less than 1.5Amps, and the Carter P5000 draws a hair over 5Amps.

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On 7/7/2018 at 8:56 PM, DaveT said:

OK!  I replaced the fuel pressure regulator.  I have a spare SPFI manifold I traded for the carburetor one I had on my 86 GL.  Took the regulator off that spare one, which looks like it wasn't very old / low miles  /indoors most of it's life.

Car fired right up.  Pressure nice and steady, at 24PSI - which is a little high.  Drive to the bottom of my safest "test" hill.  Checked the vacuum line to the bottom of the pressure regulator, oops, I left it off.  Connected.  Pressure more normal 22PSI.   Still nice and steady.  Drive up the hill, NO PROBLEM!   Loop around for another test, and no problem.  Took a run up the steeper bigger higher speed hill nearby, and no problem.

Pressure now at 20PSI, but it is running fine as it always has.

There are a few pressure regulators going to the throttle body. Did you replace them all or just the one with the vacuum line that mounts on the throttle body?

I picked up a spare throttle body myself with all pressure regulators attached. 

I also swapped my fuel pump with no change. 

I'm thinking pressure regulators are to blame as well.

Will report back when mine is fixed.

This might become the next regular repair for bad acceleration.... :(

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More than one fpr ? cannot think why ..... maybe the extras are dampers not pressure regs ?

 

Ebay is full of adjustable fpr with gauge/ Rock also do them for mpfi and turbo which run at about 36 psi

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There is only one fuel pressure regulator, it is held onto the throttle body by 2 screws.

The only thing I can guess you may be misidentifying are the dampers - they smooth pulses / surges in the pressure.  There is one on each line under the hood, and one on the OEM fuel pump.

 

Good to know, about the adjustable ones.  They go inline?   Then I just have to figure out how to make the dead stock one go full open?

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16 minutes ago, DaveT said:

There is only one fuel pressure regulator, it is held onto the throttle body by 2 screws.

The only thing I can guess you may be misidentifying are the dampers - they smooth pulses / surges in the pressure.  There is one on each line under the hood, and one on the OEM fuel pump.

 

Good to know, about the adjustable ones.  They go inline?   Then I just have to figure out how to make the dead stock one go full open?

Was thinking something similar. Cut pres reg can off mounting plate, weld/silver solder fpt fitting to plate & screw in 5/16" hose barb. Insert external pres reg in return line. 

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10 hours ago, DaveT said:

There is only one fuel pressure regulator, it is held onto the throttle body by 2 screws.

The only thing I can guess you may be misidentifying are the dampers - they smooth pulses / surges in the pressure.  There is one on each line under the hood, and one on the OEM fuel pump.

 

Good to know, about the adjustable ones.  They go inline?   Then I just have to figure out how to make the dead stock one go full open?

Ah! Yes I was misidentifying the dampers.  When searching through images with the search "fuel pressure regulators 88 GL" it shows both the dampers and the FPR.

I thought they were all FPR. Thanks for correcting me.

I'll be swapping mine tonight and will report back if it fixes my issue.

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Bad things come in threes. Dam that Murphy........................!

Pres reg on my 87 Gl wagon (also EA82 SPFI, Dave) failed causing stumbling/dying immediately after startup. Luckily right in my driveway. 

I had already done the fuel pump a week before. Had some spare TBI bodies to rob a reg from.

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Oof! I hope my pressure regulator keeps working nicely on mine for at least a while longer. I'm surprised that the pressure regulator was the issue even though pressure appeared normal with the old regulator on there. 

Looks like I've got a new part I'll be wanting to find a good spare of.

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while the topic of FPR's is on the table... the GF8 I have been tinkering with...while it was running I wondered how it would run at idle if I just pulled its vacuum supply off

 

nothing happened other than finding the factory two layered hose was not the old MY or L series tight/stuck on like never letting go - it could almost have been a vacuum leak source!

Then the hose just broke in my fingers revealing black inside, grey outside - snapped again just like a rubber hose dipped in dry ice then given a whack

 

From this point on I wont be trusting EJ era vacuum hoses !

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  • 4 weeks later...

just wanted to report back, after a lot of messing around it seems like I had a bad TPS!

It tested good, but after the FPR swap, injector swap, two mafs and a new IAC I was having the same issues.

Swapped the TPS and it seems to be doing great. A little bit of stuttering on the pick up, but I think it's the Peugeot wheels I'm running now.

I have a space FPR just incase!

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