Bill Ball

Understood. This car is well documented, salvaged for the same reason I believe and should have no concern about driveability from the fire damage. Maybe this adds some weight to restoring it even with a salvage title. So, I guess the question is would whatever Van nets after the $11K settlement minus the buy back be more or less than the drop in value from a salvage title?

Mongo

I suppose this is a dumb question, but why would the injector pop out of the rail if it was clipped? Or was it?

vanster

Andy
Two thoughts
1) It wasn't really clipped
2) The injector cracked when we tapped on it to make it work.

Speedtoys

It cant come out of the rail.

the rail is bolted down onto the injector.

A physically broken injector could do this, or a pinched/torn Oring at the rail end could have blown out.

But injectors cant come out.

vanster

I agree. The more I relive the event I think the injector was cracked. They were coral colored 4 hole and about half the weight of the older single injector

Speedtoys

I dunno, NO sign of the PS line cracked near the top of the fender?

Thats a LOT of liquid on fire over the side of the fender outside the bay..not sure how a cracked in jector can do that.

Speedtoys

It still cant come out..unstable, but cant come out...could drop some..and leak, but enough to blow the oring?

jcorenman

I am not sure this is true-- that it can't come out of the rail if the clip isn't secure. The rail is bolted down, correct. And the injector is basically trapped between the rail and intake. And the original-style injectors can't move downward much, because their fat bottoms run into the intake.

If I understand correctly, the injectors were the new-style all-plastic units with skinny hips. Skinny enough to allow the injector to drop down into the intake and allow the top o-ring to disengage from the rail (absent a secure clip)? I don't know, but careful inspection should tell the story.

bureau13

Didn't someone (handle of Cosmo or something like that?) have an injector come loose and start a fire? Or am I remembering that wrong?

As for the PS fluid burning, I'm guessing that was a secondary ignition after the line or reservoir burst from the heat of the original fire.

hacker-pschorr

This is not the first 928 fire due to a missing, loose, faulty, or improperly installed injector clip. It's very easy to attach the clip without them actually "grabbing" the grooves in the injector.

In fact, when this thread first popped up I received an e-mail from Mike Schmidt (Z):
"He mentioned that they had just replaced the fuel injectors. I know there have been some engine fires because people didn't install those square metal clips that hold the injectors correctly, or at all."

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but when anything happens the first thing you ask is: "What is the last thing I did". In this case installed an injector and moments before the flame, the smell of raw fuel.

A cracked injector is also possible, but people cannot ignore how important those clips are.


Anyway - I vote fix the car. All things considered that damage isn't bad at all.

Speedtoys

But..isnt the car off at this point? No more PS fluid pressure to push out over the fender.

Just saying..1/2 the fender is draped in liquid on fire.

Where do you see a fuel fire at/under/around the fuel rail in the engine bay?

I do not. Just heat scorched plastics and rubber...but no ignition.

Bill Ball

Read my description of what happened the day before in post 99.

Bill Ball

The fluid drained out of the burned hose, draining the reservoir, forming a large pool that burned, setting the tire on fire and burning through the left fender. It didn't need to squirt out under pressure. The other point of concentration of fire was near injector 8. Plus injector 8 was a bit troublesome the day before. Also, I don't think the fuel necessarily ignited around the injector until it pooled in the valley and dripped down under the car. Anyway, it should be easy enough to check the injector if it is still there. Regardless, there definitely was a fuel fire supplemented at some point by power steering fluid. The likeliest source for the fuel was injector 8 as it had been manipulated several times over the day before the fire.

Bill Ball

I believe the stock injectors can drop far enough into the head before bottoming out to allow the top to pop out of the rail. Another local owner installed stock injectors without clips and had a terrific fire on start up. The fuel pressure will push unclipped injectors out of the rail. But, yes, Van's 4-hole skinny injector 8 did come out of the rail when the clip popped off the day before as I was trying to remove the electrical connector.

Bill Ball

Read my description of what happened with that injector the day before. It was properly clipped but it came unclipped when I torqued on the electrical connector to get it off the injector. It reclipped perfectly well. I've done this dozens and dozens of times on dozens of 928s. I've had the injectors out of my car alone at least a dozen of times. BUT as I mentioned, it was the first time I have ever seen an injector come unclipped from manipulating the connector. So, in retrospect, there may have been an issue with the clip, rail or injector clip slot even though it seemed to clip just fine. Van did manipulate that injector further the next day. It should be examined.