97 960 216K

My daughter parked her car in the street after school today., I went to the front door to greet her and got a nose full of gasoline odor. The car is parked fully 40 feet from the front door to my house, yet the smell was very strong.

I looked under the hood and found fuel dripping from what looks like a compression fitting that is near and probably feeds the fuel rail. The dripping occurs when the motor runs and shortly after shut off.

This is a picture to give a perspective where in the engine the issue is:



The arrow points to the compression fitting. You can see the fuel on the manifold in this picture:




This is a closer shot, although I can't get both sides of the fitting in the picture:



The fuel is dripping down onto a manifold (intake? exhaust? darnit, I'm new to these Swedish machines...I've learned my way around my Ford Taurus pretty well).
Questions:

1) The compression fitting has a brass looking nut (in picture) and a silver nut (steel? Aluminum?--hidden from view). It looks like I can simply go in there with a wrench and tighten it. Could tightening it stop the leak? It seems like it would, but I want to avoid one of those "You'll be OK as long as you didn't tighten it" situations.

2) If tightening it is not a good idea or is but the problem turns out to be more complex, how dangerous is it to drive the car? Is it simply wasting expensive gas or is it a real hazard?

3) What else could be causing this? Is there an o-ring inside that could have gone bad?

Any help, please.

Thanks in advance.

 

OK...I've kicked around the forum and learned the following:

The manifold under the fuel line is the intake manifold. Thought so, exhaust and fuel lines so close together is a bad idea.

It is also a bad idea to drive around with the fuel leaking. My daughter is upset, but she'd rather ride in someone else's car than face the danger of incineration.

I got a chance to talk with older daughter's friend who is a pro mechanic and a former Volvo owner. He said to tighten the fitting to see if it stops. Of course I don't have a 19mm line wrench, but I'll get one in the morning. If that doesn't work, I'll have to pay somebody to fix it. Hate that.

Feel free to add input if you have any.

Thanks,

az in SC

 

Maybe getting a wrench on it might do the trick, but I think something is not right with that plumbing arrangement, the fuel is leaking at the fuel regulator connection. The fuel regulator should be fastened thru the silver bracket with the 1/2" hole pictured in the second photo.
Because of where it is located, makes me think that the hoses have a problem and some one cut off some of it and tried to make a connection.

Your best bet might be getting some new rubber hose to the injector rail that is the correct length. Yes you do not want her driving around with that, I looks that it may have been dripping for a while with the brown color stains.

DanR '94 964 360,000 mile (126,000 on the new engine)

 

The brass compression fitting connects directly to the fuel regulator (which, I'm guessing is the black cylindrical tank with the vacuum hose attachment).

The fuel lines are made of metal and run parallel to the injector rail.

You are saying that the regulator should be several inches over from where it is?

How would I connect the metal fuel line to the fuel regulator if it was moved back to its original location?

PS. Except for the leak, the car runs smoothly.

 

I've done some research and attempted to tighten the compression fitting.

I tried tightening the fitting that connects the fuel delivery pipe to the fuel pressure regulator. I've tightened it as much as I can and it seems to have slowed the leak, but not made it go away...it is still dripping.

Here is the fuel delivery diagram for the Volvo 960: http://www.volvopartswebstore.com/im...e/GR-65656.jpg


The leak is definitely coming from the connection between #10 and #11. Dan- You are right that the regulator is in the wrong spot. It actually looks like the regulator is also different than the one Volvo has in the diagram, as the fuel connections on mine extend from opposite ends of the cylinder with the vacuum connection at the top. The diagram shows the inbound fuel connector directly opposite the vacuum hose, at a 90 degree angle from the fuel output connector.

Questions:

1) Do you think I just need someone stronger to manhandle the fitting? As I try to tighten it, the entire fuel rail flexes and makes me nervous. The other side of the regulator doesn't leak and has several turns of threads showing. The side I tightened now shows no exposed threads.
2) Will I have to replace either the fuel pressure regulator or the fuel delivery pipe? Both? The regulator is about $120 and the pipe is about the same price (which is just plain ridiculous). The current fuel delivery pipe reaches from the pressure regulator to the fuel rail fine as it is now. I'm guessing that was also improvised.

3 Is there a way to get this fixed without replacing those parts? Perhaps an O-ring or some kind of loc-tite?


My daughter is pouting... I won't let her in the car. My wife is looking at me like I'm an idiot for buying such a terrible car--it's not terrible at all, just has a little, potentially expensive problem. I need to resolve this quickly to keep the peace in my house.

And I'd really like to avoid a repair garage as it will easily double the cost of the parts.

Thanks for the help and good advice.

 

I am not sure if that is the proper FPR. It's possible previous owner rigged a SAE thread regulator into this metric thread pipe.

If that's the case, you can cut the pipe back and put a rubber (fuel) hose between FPR and the shortened pipe.

 

How would the rubber hose connect to the shortened pipe? A hose clamp? Would it just be a raw rubber end? And how would it connect to the FPR if is SAE? Would I get a rubber hose with an appropriately sized SAE threading?


Thanks for the ideas. I haven't messed with fuel lines before. I need all the help I can get.

 

Double clamp on raw cut pipe. Same on the FPR threads if there is room, although not necessary. It's probably a $ 3 repair at the most. If you want to get fancy, buy a hydraulic line from discounthydraulichose.com, to withstand better.

I would keep in eye for any misfires, bucking at WOT etc.

 

WOT? Not sure what that means.

There is only about 1/2 on the threads. I cant imagine that I could double clamp that side.

I imagine I can get the rubber fuel hose at any auto parts store?

 

OK...WOT= wide open throttle. I'm hoping there won't be much of that with my daughter driving the car.

I meant to say 1/2 inch...but I think you covered that already is the previous response.

This rubber fuel hose comes from auto parts stores?

Thanks again.

 

Yes, regular fuel-injection hose (about $ 0.99 per foot) sold at auto-parts store.

1/2" might not be much. I would take the FPR out, check threads on both FPR and pipe and go from there.

 

So I teamed up with my mechanic friend. We (he, really) disassembled the connections at the FPR. We confirmed that the FPR was not original, but here;s the really weird part: the FPR on the car has three legs for fuel, intake, output and a return that leads to the gas tank. The factory original only has two legs. The return line is old and was not installed when the FPR was installed. I don't understand.

We confirmed the threading was the correct size metric, then wrapped some teflon tape around the male threads and tightened the connections. Leak is gone! Yay!

Side note...while we were doing this, mechanic friend noticed that the fuel rail had a lot of play. He disassembled it to find that both bolts holding the rail to the cylinder head were sheared off and the fuel rail was held in place basically by gravity. The car runs fine, but I'm concerned. I'll start a separate thread for advice on that one.

Thanks for the help with the leak!

 

That is a returnless system. In 1997 Volvo started this new system, which is better, has less parts, etc. AFAIK, only a minority of 960 have it. My 98 does not have it.

You definitely need the OEM FPR. FPR is the big difference between Return and Returnless Fuel system.

 

The FPR was replaced in March by reputable import specialist. I found paperwork in stating such in the glove box.

Why would there be a return hose in place if it is a return-less system? The unit is over $200 so I'd really rather not replace it if it is functional and poses no threat of damage to the car. What do you think?

 

What is FPR's part number?

 

The number etched into the FPR is 30bar991.

 

Is that a Volvo part?

If no, what is the brand? If yes, that is not the part number.

 

The repair receipt doesn't specify. The only marking on the FPR are those which I gave you. I also did a search on the number and came up empty. My guess is that it is an aftermarket part, although I can't get more specific.

The check engine light has returned with the same codes

P0172 Running rich or lean
P0301 Cylinder misfire...Vacuum leak, Injector fault, fuel pressure issue.

The warranty was 6 months, 6K miles and the work was done in March '11. I thinking of taking the hour drive back to the repair shop anyway. Clearly this was done incorrectly and is causing a myriad of problems.

 

I think you need to call the dealer -- give them your VIN and they would tell you what fuel system (returnless or return) your car came with. Check out this part diagram.

Check out also this for price of a returnless FPR.

 

Haven't had the chance to call the dealership, but the diagram looks like what my car looks like. The diagram shows the FPR with three legs and a vacuum hose, which is what I have...so I feel a little better.

I got a "new" fuel rail from a junkyard. It doesn't look like the rail in the diagram, but like the the modified one on the '98 model. The strange thing is that car I pulled it from was a '96. Maybe it was updated at some point.

Now the challenge is to get the broken bolts out of the cylinder head.

More on it later.