Fuel pump check valve

[billb]

Hey gang, long time, no post! Things have been pretty quiet on the bimmer front for me. Just last week however, my wife pulled the 525 into the garage and shut it down. I was in the house, came out into the garage, and smelled gasoline. The supply hose to the fuel rail had developed a leak. So, I replaced that hose and clamps with new 3/8" (7.9mm) hose from Autozone. Once it filled up the system, it started right up, no leaks. Mission accomplished.

Not quite. The next evening, my wife says the car isn't starting like it used to...it's taking like 5-6 seconds to start, but running fine once it starts. My troubleshooting led me to do the following:

Pull fuel pump relay
Jumper 30 and 87 to make the pump run manually.
Check for leaks. None present.
Check the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulator for gasoline. None present. (FPR was changed 2 years ago chasing a rich running condition, which turned out to be the AFM).
Pull the fuel rail with injectors out of the manifold, and check that an injector wasn't leaking down. Did that, not a drop leaking when running the fuel pump for a solid minute.


My final conclusion is that the check valve has failed at the pump. I ordered the special retrofit kit from BMA yesterday, so we'll see if I'm right. The car still has perfect driveability; it just takes a bit to start her up.

I'm just wondering which happened first, the bad check valve, or the leaky hose, and were they related? Seems kind of odd to be that coincidental. I'll report back once I get the check valve installed, to see if we're golden again.

[bsell]

Hey gang, long time, no post! Things have been pretty quiet on the bimmer front for me. Just last week however, the wife pulled the 525 into the garage and shut it down. I was in the house, came out into the garage, and smelled gasoline. The supply hose to the fuel rail had developed a leak. So, I replaced that hose and clamps with new 3/8" (7.9mm) hose from Autozone. Once it filled up the system, it started right up, no leaks. Mission accomplished.

Not quite. The next evening, the wife says the car isn't starting like it used to...it's taking like 5-6 seconds to start, but running fine once it starts. My troubleshooting led me to do the following:

Pull fuel pump relay
Jumper 30 and 87 to make the pump run manually.
Check for leaks. None present.
Check the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulator for gasoline. None present. (FPR was changed 2 years ago chasing a rich running condition, which turned out to be the AFM).
Pull the fuel rail with injectors out of the manifold, and check that an injector wasn't leaking down. Did that, not a drop leaking when running the fuel pump for a solid minute.


My final conclusion is that the check valve has failed at the pump. I ordered the special retrofit kit from BMA yesterday, so we'll see if I'm right. The car still has perfect driveability; it just takes a bit to start her up.

I'm just wondering which happened first, the bad check valve, or the leaky hose, and were they related? Seems kind of odd to be that coincidental. I'll report back once I get the check valve installed, to see if we're golden again.

Is it possible some junk from the old hose made its way around the horn and into the check valve? Of did Fate play a joke on you by taking out both the hose and your check valve?;)

Brian

[billb]

Got the repair kit from BMA in the mail today. A few plastic caps to put over the sending unit nuts, and a length of hose with foam insulation around it, with a check valve on one end, plus two clamps I won't be using (no crimp tool). My wife and I had just returned from dinner out, so when I pulled the supply line, there was quite a bit of residual pressure. I guess the check valve was leaking down slowly? I hope that's the case. Regardless, it's installed now. I'm letting it sit for an hour or two, then will go out and give it a try.

[billb]

I let it sit overnight, about 9 hours, and went out to give it a try. Turned over 3-4 revs and fired right up. Looks like we have a winner! Mileage at the retrofit is 147,297.

[ryan roopnarine]

do you plan on measuring the fuel pressure, or are you just going to "let it be" now?

[billb]

do you plan on measuring the fuel pressure, or are you just going to "let it be" now?

So far I'm gonna let it be. I don't have a fuel pressure gauge. When the pump finally quits pumping, then I'll move to the next phase.

As of now, I'll call it "band-aided".

[billb]

She drove it yesterday all day, with no startup hesitation, long cranking, etc. This "band-aid fix" saved me lots of $$$!! Highly recommended for long cranking times before immediately putting a new fuel pump in.

[shogun]

Got the repair kit from BMA in the mail today. A few plastic caps to put over the sending unit nuts, and a length of hose with foam insulation around it, with a check valve on one end, plus two clamps I won't be using (no crimp tool). ... so when I pulled the supply line, there was quite a bit of residual pressure. I guess the check valve was leaking down slowly? I hope that's the case. Regardless, it's installed now. I'm letting it sit for an hour or two, then will go out and give it a try.

Bill: was is the part number of the kit or the single parts and price(s)?

[shogun]

o.k., here are check valves
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=check+valve+fuel&category0=
seems like the biofuel car owners need them a lot.

[shogun]

bumb:


special retrofit kit from BMA

What is the part number of that kit? Can't find it online.
Thanks

[525i winter driver]

bumb:



What is the part number of that kit? Can't find it online.
Thanks

on my receipt from bma it is listed as 16 14 9 068 988

[shogun]

Thanks,

cannot find that on the online parts catalog I use
"16149068988" Results - Parts: Not found

But I found the pic of the part on an old post from 2003 on the German 7-forum, and the pic is from Slovenia
http://freeweb.siol.net/caposiol/ventil000.jpg
http://freeweb.siol.net/caposiol/ventil001.jpg
http://freeweb.siol.net/caposiol/ventil002.jpg

[Dave M]

Out of interest, how much was the kit from BMA?

I ask as a few years ago I picked up a new one from a dealer in Canada (exactly the part shown in Shogun's pics) to send to a board member in the UK (sean??). In our opinion, they were bending him over the parts counter pretty hard ($100+). The check valve was ~$20 CND and postage was minimal.

Just curious,

Dave

[525i winter driver]

i found it (just now) on bma - if you do a part search by number it works, but for some reason if i choose my car first it doesn't find the part. i was under the impression that it's actually a stock part for a different model, but i don't remember if i read that somewhere or just made it up.
it's $7.00. it came in a package identical to shogun's pics, with the same white label but not the yellow one. you don't use the insulation, end up with lots of leftover hose and the plastic caps are just to protect the bolts to the fuel pump cover plate. (too late for me lol)
$100? that's got to be an error or bad people... although i remember seeing just the valve (no kit) on auto parts online canada for $40 or something.
unfortunately the repair doesn't seem to fix my hot start problem, which hardly ever happens. i guess it's not a bad thing to have done this anyway.