Three dead fuel pressure regulators means a bigger issue?

Considering the car sat for 15 years, and had a super rusty tank originally, this thought had crossed my mind. I ran a shit ton of injector cleaner through it, and all seemed well for a long time. I'm now wondering if this problem had existed the whole time I've owned the car, but since it had an automatic tranny, it was less pronounced. Even with the autofail, I had noticed it would sometimes seem to accelerate harder than others. I thought the tranny was slipping. I suppose I should disassemble the intake and send the injectors in to be cleaned and bench tested somewhere. I'd guess they are very expensive to replace.

you can make a home made injector tester. BLOZUP had a thread here, and there are some videos online. you can also get used injectors that work rather than fork out money to have them cleaned or replaced.

if i had been working on my motor to install the bigger injectors i would sell you mine for next to nothing but im working on "something else" right now, so the injectors will stay on the motor for a while longer.

I had a '98 3.0L extended caravan for a while that was beat to hell and kept working, my mother had the same era (97) caravan but short body…

Hers had a slight miss for well over a year, it was throwing a code, but so slight you'd miss where it came from with a stethoscope, until one day it became a full no-start condition… ended up dropping the tank to replace the filter as pressure was low, only to find out the mesh on the pump had glazed over and wasn't letting it suck fluid

With a new pump installed, new screen, filter, everything was fine, but now there was a clear miss we could narrow down, turned out injector #2 and rarely #4 weren't doing their duty… I figured I might as well grab a whole rail and injectors from the wrecker,

New injectors in hand, passed visual test and battery click tests, I went to swap them… that's when I found out mom's van, with the plastic gas tank, had somehow managed to fill ALL the injectors and much of the rails, with what I can only describe as rust stew

I popped each injector out, dunked them in varsol, and you could see a rusty red ooze come out of each one… to this day I have no idea how it even ran at all

I can't seem to find that thread BLOWZUP made, but I haven't finished looking. I think you guys are right, and I just need to quit beating around the bush and rebuild the injectors. When I pulled the fuel filter, red rusty gas came out in spades. I replaced the tank, but not the filler neck, I only wire brushed as much as I could reach, and I'm sure there is more rust in there. I've replaced the filter a couple more times since, and while it was never as rusty as the first time, it was still reddish colored gas. I may buy a new filler neck, pull the tank again and clean it again, then address the injectors. God damn this car has been a pain in the ass. Never again!

Check the hose to the fuel pump. Mine had a hole in it. Made me age trying to find out why the car was acting like a total POS.

Furthermore common sense tells me the regulator is there to ensure correct fuel pressure while engine is running....while it's running, get it? There is a lot of shithead info on the internet…be careful of it.

it took 25 years to get that way. chances are it will take at least another 20 to get that way again once you fix it. rerax breaux. you'll get her right n purdy.

are you SURE this is a fuel issue? have you tried looking around the engine bay in pitch-black darkness with the engine running to look for jumping spark or something?

Well, the filler neck was rusty as shit. I wire brushed it out as best as I could, but it still has rust in places I couldn't reach. The tank itself is as good as new, but rust flakes can get in it from the filler neck. Any rust that is left is small, thankfully. All the large flakes are gone, it's just enough to discolor the fuel before the filter.

I checked for jumping spark, and found none. I've seen that before, from my Datsun. Like a flashing blue light. My engine is completely dark when running. While I was there though, I remembered something… my injectors have always been kinda noisy. I dunno if that is normal or not, but there is a distinct ticking sound coming from them. (I know all injectors tick, I just mean it seems louder than an average car.) So, I took a video of it running really rough after a cold start today. Cold starts are by FAR the worst. I have to start it several times before it will stay running. I started the video right as I got it to idle and not stall. The vacuum gauge is in clear view, so you can watch it's behavior and see if it is normal. I also posted this on my build thread, so sorry about any redundancy:

And before anyone asks, the clunking sound is coming from trashed rear subframe bushings, not backfiring. I have nearly a full poly set for the car, as well as new springs and Illumina shocks waiting for me to get around to. The engine is first though.

Not the distributor. I swapped in my brother's distributor from his perfect running slicktop, and had the same problem. The car runs way better with the adjustable FPR set way high, but then it stalls when I decelerate. I'm guessing this means my injectors are plugged. With high enough pressure, they spray well enough to run the car, but it gets too rich when I decelerate.

Either that, or I have two bad ECUs, since they both act the same way. This is driving me crazy. I just want my car to work. I guess I'll buy new injectors and gaskets for the intake. Might as well do the spark plugs again, while it's easy. Anyone know if I can run '87T injectors in my '85? (I have two different ways to get 87T injectors, lol!) I already know the impedance is fine, but I feel like I read somewhere that I'd need to modify the intake plenum since the rail is different. Anyone know?

ok, well since you have to replace your injectors anyways… what i would do is buy 2 or 3 injectors from people on here. dont buy the whole lot. i mean it's still cheap- you can get them for like 60 bucks, but anyways, by a pair.

then do the following with your current injectors.

1) remove the rail, and remove each injector from the rail- label them with a number just for your own information.
2) find a spare injector connector, or buy one, or clip one from another car with some lengthy wire attached to it.
3) take the line off your fuel filter that goes to the rails, and tighten it onto ONE injector. I would recommend getting a 3 foot length of 5/16 fuel hose and shoving it onto the 3/8 line on the fuel filter outlet. it will go, but you gotta want it to go.
you don't need injection hose for testing. for normal operation it is a must, but for testing it should be ok for some time.
4) point the injector into a clear canister of sorts that is deep enough… a 1.5 litre water bottle is usually taller than a 2 litre soda bottle, but either works.
5) have someone turn the key to the on position so you hear the pump prime.
6) tap the injector connector you saved or clipped from another car very quickly to the battery on both pos and neg terminals and look at the spray pattern.

you should be able to tell instantly which one has a shitty spray pattern. start with a low PSI on your regulator to be able to tell the spray pattern even more so. take one of your replacement 2 injectors and change that one up. put all new hoses on your fuel rail, and drive the car again.

also, don't hold it on the battery for too long. i believe high resistance injectors will burn out very quickly if you don't just give it a quick 1 second pulse.

it's not a scientific way of checking flow rates and whatnot, but its better than sitting around changing parts you don't know are bunk. heck, you could even just test them before buying anything, and put it back together and label the one that's shitty and then just change that one once it comes in the mail. or you could get the injectors in the mail and just undo the filter line without touching the rest of your car, and test those ones first to get a feel for it before pulling the rest of the car apart.

that's where i would start. i think Urstin did something similar, but with the entire rail attached and sitting over the engine in a turky roasting pan so that he could test each injector one by one without removing them from the filter line- but that seems like it would make a mess. i've seen poor and spewy injectors, they squirt fuel in every possible direction. especially your face.

Seems reasonable, thank you, Careless! I may be able to get injectors that were recently cleaned/tested for what I deem to be a very reasonable price, but they are for an 87T, as I said before. If I find out they will work, I may go that route. If not, your idea seems like a great one!

Now for the newb question… can the injectors be removed from the engine without removing the intake plenum? I didn't think they could. If they can, I may pull it apart and test them before buying new ones, using your method. If I have to pull the plenum, I'm redoing everything I can at the same time. You know, might as well.

very difficult to remove the injectors without removing the plenum- I'm sure you could do it, but then putting it back in with the seals and everything would be a bitch.
you really just need to prepare with a new metal intake gasket from nissan, and 6 new injector seals, which aren't that expensive and could fix any boost leaks you miiiiiight have.
that's basically all i would buy. the rest of the stuff, just leave it on, throw the harness to the side.