| Theoretical discussion: FPR and hydro-lock |
Subject: Theoretical discussion: FPR and hydro-lock by screamin_conure on 2013/10/17 17:41:58 A friend who has a 1994 convertible recently contacted me with a few questions about an incident he had with his Vette. He had gone out to start his car, and after it started it died within a few seconds. He went to start it again and it wouldn't even crank. Dead in the water. He had the car towed to his mechanic. A short while later his mechanic called to inform him that the diaphragm in the fuel pressure regulator had completely failed, causing the engine to hydro-lock with gasoline. The mechanic said he could smell gas as soon as he lifted the hood, and when he pulled out one of the spark plugs, fuel began to spill out. Eight new plugs, an oil and filter change and a new FPR put the car back on the road. I guess he was lucky that he didn't damage anything like a connecting rod, piston or even crack the block. So my question is how this could have even happened? Assuming that without a functioning FPR, the fuel rails were hyper-pressurized, but how in the world could that much fuel get past the injectors? I know that in that situation, with each injector pulse, you're getting a LOT more fuel, but I'm trying to rationalize how enough fuel to completely fill all eight combustion chambers could get through. Perhaps I'm underestimating the amount of pressure that the fuel pump can actually generate. |
