Day 1...

Day 1...

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Fuel Distributor Cleansing

Within the DeLorean community, those folks who try to maintain the original Bosch K-Jet fuel injection system know not to take the fuel distributor apart in fear that it will always leak afterwards. Knowing this, and suspecting a stuck plunger for the past month or so, I was hesitant and nervous to even remove the fuel distributor from the mixture unit. A replacement would run me $500 and that's not something I want to throw money at unless I absolutely have to.

I took several pictures referencing where all the lines connect to the distributor and then took them all free. Three long flat-head machine screws attach it to the mixture unit. These came off without much fuss although they were quite tight. With the screws out, the distributor pulled right off revealing a small o-ring rubber gasket that surprisingly looked to be in good shape.

With the fuel distributor on the workbench, I examined and noticed some gooey fuel deposits near the lip of the plunger housing. Using some carb & throttle body cleaner, I removed all the visible deposits and attempted to pull the plunger with needle-nose pliers. This technique did not succeed and I decided to make a shallow bowl of parts cleaner, as I didn't want to fully submerge the assembly in fear of damaging the internal rubber seals.

After a couple of hours soaking, I was able to unstick the plunger by using needle-nose pliers in conjunction with some vice-grips clamping the pliers to the plunger. I cleaned and wiped down the bottom of the unit making sure most if not all of the cleaner was purged from the unit.

I then reassembled everything in reverse order of disassembly. At this point, I think she's ready for some fresh gasoline and a test run. I'll have to make a pre-flight checklist first but I don't see anything else at this point that would be considered an obstacle.