Hello all,

I'm trying to help a 16 year old with his first truck. Starter was barely turning. I found that the Fuel Pressure Regulator went to the bad and was dumping fuel into the intake manifold. I noticed a gas/oil mixure pouring out of the exhaust at the cat. Pulled all 6 spark plugs and cylinders 1 and 6 was full of fuel...most of the others still had quite a bit of fuel. Pulled the coil wire to make sure I wasn't getting any spark (Was told that fuel would catch truck on fire if I didn't unplug coil) Turned over the engine and gas shot out of plug holes. I pulled the fuel pump fuse and have waited 2 days hoping that the excess fuel will evaporate out of cylinders.


On my to do list:

1. Replace Fuel Pressure Regulator
2. Replace fouled out spark plugs and new wires
3. Change oil since it's got fuel mixed in.

Does anyone have tips on changing the fuel pressure regulator? The 3.0L engine that I'm working on has the FPRegulator right on top but a big wiring harness looks to be in the way. Any idea what size allen wrench I would need. I'm hoping not to have to remove the fuel rail, but looking for the best (easiest) way.

Planning on getting to work on it tomorrow.

Thanks in advance!

 

The remainder of the gas in the cylinders may have run down to the oil pan by now. Be sure to change the oil filter too when you change the oil. Might be a good idea to put in all new plugs before you try to start it. Gas in the old plugs won't always go away on the inside of the plug and they may not fire right. Maybe you won't need to move the harness very much to get the regulator out. Or you might need to loosen a harness support to get it to move far enough. Sorry I don't know the allen wrench size for the bolts but keep in mind that they may be metric. When you put the new regulator in place, make sure the mounting pad for it is really clean & put a little smear of engine oil around on the o-ring to help it slide together easier. And welcome to the site. You should find a lot of good info here.

 

Thanks Stan

I bought replacment plugs and oil filter for the project. When I did a search on "fuel Pressure regulator" I got a lot of great info, just no step by step how too postings. Someone had mentioned that they found it easier using a long and a short allen key wrench. The ring of allen keys that came with my small set of tools could have metric and SAE sizes on it...I'm not sure. I purchased most of my tools several years ago when I had my 1965 Mustang fastback so I didn't need metric tools. I no longer have the little mustang so I'm feeling a little tool poor.

I will look to see how much slack I can get out of the harness. Through my public library I have access to an on-line repair manual from Auto Repair Reference Center. It gives instructions on removal, but makes it sound easy. Previous postings say that it's a PIA...for a part that's right up on top of the engine.

Thanks once again Stan.

 

Personally if it were mine, I would pull the fuel rail and replace the injector O-rings while I was at it. Access to the regulator will be much better with the rail removed.

 

I got the fuel pressure regulator installed, and yes it is a pain. If anyone needs to know it uses (3) 5/32" Allen screw heads. I wound up unhooking the harness as much as I could, drain the radiator some and removing heater hoses and upper rad hose to open up room.

I installed all new spark plugs and new wires and changed the oil which I will run a bit then drain again and put fresh oil in since all that fuel was mixed with the oil. Drained just over 11 qts of oil and gasoline mixed.

Started it and it kicked out tons of white smoke after we got it cranked, developed a popping noise coming from the exhaust and it has the power of a slug. It threw up a check engine light so I drove it down the road to AutoZone. The only code that it gave me was 11 which is Checks OK.

I had the kid who owns the truck install the plug wires on the RH bank while I made a run after new cheap oil and filter to run in it short term. The wires are installed per the repair manual, but I couldn't say if any of the wires are run without crossing. I did notice that distributor cap wire locations on the truck are turned a bit from the diagram in the repair manual.

<OI put a vacuum gauge on the automatic transmission's vac port and the gauge showed a 16 in/Hg with a little needle shake. Spoke with the kid's mom (he's 3 months from getting his driver’s license)...she said that it hardly had any power before the fpr went to the bad. I drove it 7 miles back to my house to further check it out. Ran terrible...took forever to get up to 45mph, loud exhaust. After getting home I looked under the truck and the cat was partially glowing orange. I've got a couple of folks I may be able to borrow a timing light from to test it. The sticker in the engine bay say to disconnect the SPOUT connector then timing should be 10 degrees BTDC.

<OWhere is the SPOUT connector...near the distributor? Also I haven't looked real hard yet...but where is the timing pointer located. I shined a flashlight diagonally from the drivers side to the crankshaft, but didn't see a pointer.

<OAny ideas, opinions, tips, etc...???<O

 

stephenhobbs: Sorry I'm not real familiar with the 3.0 as to where the spout connector is. You may want to recheck the plug wire routing to make sure they are going where they should. There won't be a timing pointer on the front of the engine as you know it. Not like on your early Mustang. But there should be a metal bracket or arm extending forward from the front of the engine and going partly over the harmonic balancer on the crank just behind the pulley that is closest to the engine. (Unless it's gone for some reason- broken off, rusted etc.) I may be over toward the passenger side of the engine front. This bracket will have what looks like a short hollow tube close to the end of it. That's the timing mark alignment sight. There should be a timing mark on the harmonic balancer that should line up with the sight when using a timing light. With the cat glowing orange it may have been still burning off the stuff that came down the pipe or it's plugged a bit. I know plugged cats will make an engine run really bad (as in barely run, & no power), or not at all. Might need to look at that possibility. If this thing was running pretty good before the fuel leak, then not sure if the timing would be off any. But a damaged cat that is now partly plugged can make a lot of things appear suspect. With your on line resource library, see what they tell you the normal idle vacuum should be. I think vacuum numbers can tell you if you have a bad cat. Maybe some one else with 3.0 experience can help with illustrations and info that you don't have.

 

Two suggestions:
1 - use Motorcraft spark plug wires when you replace plug wires
2 - use Motorcraft or Autolite spark plugs, preferable double platinum ones.

Ranger engines seem partial to these wires and plugs. Other brands of plus seem to result in poor engine operation.

 

We used Autolite Platnum plugs AP104 and new Autolite Professional series wire set. Currently Autolite plugs and wires have mail in rebates on them. The 16 year old doesn't have a job yet, so the parents have been footing the repair. The 16yr old is one of seven kids, so I'm trying to keep costs down as much as possible. Thank you for all your help. I'm trying to source a timing light from a buddy of mine to borrow. Stan thanks on the location of the timing pointer...there is a lot of stuff in the way on the passenger side. I miss working on my old Mustang...things were a lot simpler then.