Fuel rail

[carlotus]

I’m attempting to change out my fuel injectors. Everything went ok, until I tried to remove the fuel rail. I have the fuel rail up enough to have the injectors out of the plenum, but I can’t seem to remove the fuel rail so I can replace the injectors. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I also lost a couple of small clips that hold the electric connections to the injectors. How important are they?

TIA

[Tuga2112]

i believe the fuel rail is attached to the intake plenum with 2 bolts at the back. did you get those out ? they are quite finnicky to access in my experience. and some people dont attach them back (my NA came with the fuel rail not bolted at the back, but the SE was attached)

[carlotus]

I can’t get to fuel outlet side on the fuel rail, is it held in by an o-ring like the inlet side?

If I can’t get the fuel rail out, is it possible to get injectors out.

[Tuga2112]

im afraid i cant help with neither of those questions.

my experience with the fuel rail was both times when removing the intake plenum. i never had injector problems. (touch wood)

[carlotus]

Is removing the plenum a difficult job? I don’t want to get in over my head.

I spayed the injectors with some wd-40 hoping is will make it easier to come out, they are really stuck

Anyway, thanks for your response

[TorqueHorse]

Hey, you don't need to remove the fuel rail, plenum, or loosen the bolts holding the fuel hose behind the plenum or even the fuel pressure regulator valve! But I would suggest you take the valve cover off so that you don't scratch the paint, and it will give your hands just a tiny bit more room to swap out the injectors.

With the valve cover off and the 2 bolts holding the fuel rail to the intake plenum, and the 2 bolts holding the injector loom to the intake plenum (and the injectors unplugged from the loom). Put your hands under the fuel rail and YANK up. Should only be friction of the orings at this point holding the injectors to the intake plenum.

PXL_20251001_192736614.jpg

Then make sure you have taken off, or scooted out of the way, the clips holding each injector to the fuel rail. You can also do this first while its still attached to the plenum if you need more leverage on the little buggers.

Then get a big screwdriver, etc. to leverage the injector(s) down away from the fuel rail.

PXL_20251001_195257097.jpg

Then its up to you how you want to put them back in. I usually start at cylinder #4 because that has the least clearance. Maybe lightly pop them all into the plenum and then see if I can get the fuel rail back on top and then go back and forth of either trying to press the fuel rail down, or pushing an injector back up into the rail. Massage them all until they are uniform and put whatever clips you want back in place (or don't. Once you bolt the rail down to the plenum, there isn't anywhere for the injectors to go...) Bolt everything back up and reattach loom. Maybe check for leaks by just priming the fuel pump first before turning the car on etc.

[Tuga2112]

althoguht i never removed my valve cover. from looking at it, i am pretty sure it will be an easier task than removing the plenum.

[carlotus]

I gave the injectors a shot of wd-40 where they are attached to the fuel rail last night, and wa la I was able to pop out all 4 injectors this morning. Those buggers were in there tight. I found it easier to turn the injectors so the electrical connection faces down.

Appreciate the help guys

[Chas54]

If you lost the wire "goal post" style clips that lock the injector cable to the injestor , you can easily form new ones from a paper clip. . Straighten out cut to length amd fold to the same pattern as your unlost ones . They work very well.
You can get the fuel inlet and outlet pipework out without removing the plennum .

[carlotus]

Injectors are in and there are no leaks woohoo!
I found it easier to put injector into intake first then push the fuel rail onto injectors

Hot start issue gone and car running better

I even found the missing clips, well my wife did

Thanks to all that reached out

[carlotus]

[FYI in case anyone is also missing the fuel injector electrical connection clips. I found a direct replacement for the clips at ZCARDEPOT.
The part # is 800-1738

IMG_0753 (1).jpg

[Coupeboy]

Just replaced my fuel injectors after symptoms of running on 2 cylinders. I diagnosed #3 failure (1.2 Ohms across terminals instead of 2 and no 'click' with ignition on and throttle spindle rotated). It took me a while to be sure as electrical connection gremlins seemed more likely - I found the ignition module earth lead on the wrong side of the plastic washer - lead ring terminal should be touching the ignition module plate - and one of the multi plug wires pulled out of the connector under the intake hose with no effort which I now need to de-pin and re-crimp - it won't reach so I've added extra wirelength and is 'bodged' for now. Thanks to this forum detail on all the tips and tricks I was able to determine it was an injector. If I had disconnected the injector that made the engine run the best I could have driven home on 3 cylinders instead of 2 but didn't realise this was an option and I didn't have the tools to get the goal post clips off anyway. The failure symptom was intermittent after a cold start, cleared up and then 2 miles down the road didn't 'fix' itself again.

I was daunted by this task but having now done it successfully (thanks to Dave Meyers write-up in the Wiki), anybody considering or needing to change the injectors should view this task as no more fiddly than most other jobs on this car - even changing the oil filter is more hassle. It took around 3 hours. As usual accessibility is the only challenge, nothing was particularly seized or stuck after 114 000 miles and 34 years. The most difficult aspect was accessing, undoing and replacing the bolt that holds the two earth lead ring terminals to the end of the inlet manifold without dropping it - this is a RH drive car, I don't know if access is easier for a LH drive. You need to do this to remove the injector loom out of the way. To remove the injectors I removed the cam cover as the extra room was welcome and avoids scratching it. Cover the camshafts, oily bits and cam belt end with towel or similar as you will likely drop things in there - guess how I know. I got my injectors from PNM Parts in the UK (last set of 'standard' - new stock due in 6 weeks) for £233 delivered. They are 3mm shorter in overall length than the originals. I also installed each one in the manifold first and then pushed the rail on top. The fuel rail clips provide a set insertion distance for each injector. The new injector O rings aren't as tight in the fuel rails/manifold as the old ones - I can turn them all quite easily after installation (maybe due to the oil I smeared on them) but no fuel leaks so far. There was already a goal post clip missing from an injector when I got there and one sprang away on refitting and disappeared somewhere. I made two more from one paperclip and works a treat . If you don't have a dentist mirror in your tool kit I would recommend getting one. Hope this helps/encourages someone else to have a go.