Summit Point, Thanks

[fve]

I hope you all had a great time. i sure enjoyed farting around the parking lot in the heat all day on Thursday gnashing my teeth at my fate.

In any case...thanks all for your assistance, especially the drunkie dozen that helped with my great Darwin moment. In any case, the uhaul trailer got me and the car home. the car is off the trailer.

Refresher: i drove my gt3 down to summit. I was ready to go out for the first run session, after idling in staging for about 1 minute, the idle became erratic then ... nothing. Restarting did not work, time and time again. Occasionally it would fire up, but nothing consistent.

Problem: the folks from dougherty went back and forth but finally settled on fuel issue. That was my first impression as well. Sure enough, after we get the car home, we test a few things. The pressure in the fuel line was about 9-10 psi (roughly about .7 bar, when it should be 3.8 bar as i recall).

A few more things checked and ultimately we pull the fuel pump. FYI, it is a PITA, but not impossible.

Investigating the unit, once i calmed down, found something interesting. One of the fuel hoses blew out. Pump pumping, but mostly back into the tank. See images below.

behold an warning to others: this has apparently happened to others, i found this on Rennlist but i cannot imagine that this is unique to gt3's, i can only imagine that this hose can bust out on any car with the pump-in-tank design and certainly running the fuel low at the track likely stresses that little hose. rennlist link:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/99...start.html

questions: any good suggestions about replacement? i was thinking silicone.

the glen or bust.

fve (frank of the blue gt3)

[Terry]

Very interesting and useful post. Something else to be aware of.

[fve]

I am glad that someone is finding it of use. I spoke with Ken Boyd, he has an issue with fuel level and he is finding this very interesting as well...

FYI, i started a topic on Rennlist (link below), this failure is not a fluke.

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/99...ilure.html

fve

[David 41]

Glad you made it home Frank,

Too bad about not being able to drive the DE.

Silicon, you're kidding right? 

Good luck getting it back together.

Dave

 

[michael lang]

I was wondering why that car was parked next to where I was paddocked from the beginning of Thurs morning. Now the mystery is solved. Frank, I felt bad for you not being able to play with everyone else, hopefully you were able to salvage the weekend and go out with some of the instructors in their cars.

 

[bobt993]

This may also be further agitated by high levels of ethanol in some gas sold.  BMW fuel pumps have been breaking because of ethanol in damaging the rubber seals in a bunch of cars.  The problem was really bad at one point.  Keep in mind German engineering assumes that ethanol additives will be precisely as stated, but some gas testing has shown levels twice what is listed at the pump.   I think you can find a list online of what companies have the most problems. 

[ccm911]

Interesting, Bob.  I had to replace my fuel pump in the BMW last summer.  I just figured it was due to age.  I wonder if crappy gas could have accelerated the process?

[Darren]

Ethanol in gasoline is just plain stupid.  I had to flush out my boat motor this spring because the ethanol in the gasoline separated out, laid in the bottom of the tank, and so when I went to start the motor all it got was pure ethanol and it wouldn't run. 

The emissions from burning ethanol might be less than gasoline BUT what about all of the farm equipment running on diesel it took to make the corn to make the ethanol?  Then you have this issue with rubber and ethanol.  You can't ship ethanolated fuel via pipeline because it attacks the seals, so it all goes by truck.  Then issues like this one where it seems that the rubber fuel lines deteriorated.

When does it stop? It's government mandated nonsense.

[fve]

Particular thanks to Darren as well.

Again, i mentioned that i started a discussion on rennlist, many interesting things seem to be coming of it. Replacement does not seem a trivial issue and any ol' hose will not do. Once i have a solid replacement suggestion, i will post it. A large part of the issue does seem to be american fuel quality.

Ethanol: keep it where it belongs, in my blood stream, not coursing through my vehicle's veins.

fve