[Walt Fricke]

Gil

Did you swap the #1 injector for the #2 and vice versa? And did you find that it was still the #1 fuel line (now with the #2 injector on it) which was a problem? Thus confirming that all of your new injectors worked properly?

Because it is possible for a new injector to be bad. Not common, but possible. I suppose you know that the injectors have a "cracking" pressure: they stay closed until the fuel pressure rises to a certain point. Only then do they spray anything. So many (like Tony) who responded thought that a bad injector could do just what you have found.

If you haven't done this, you really need to before you go messing around with "rebuilding" your fuel distributor. Given the limited amount of what can be "rebuilt" as opposed to just cleaned, you need to be realistic here. If it is one bad new injector the fix is very simple.

It is a bit hard to know what in the fuel distributor could cause this, and at the same time be something you (or perhaps anyone) could fix.

Each fuel distribution line gets its fuel through its own differential pressure chamber. A diaphragm separates the fuel in the upper (fuel line) part of this chamber from the fuel in the chamber under it. That lower fuel is at "system" pressure, so if it can bypass (through a torn or otherwise incompetent diaphragm) the fuel control plunger and the related metering slits, it will have plenty of fuel pressure (with the fuel pump running) to push a veritable gusher of fuel out of its injector.

I don't think you can get replacement diaphragms. If this is the cause of the problem, cleaning won't help. I've only had a fuel distributor apart once, and that was just to clean it and get the plunger to stop sticking. I noted the diaphragms and moved on. If it can be removed, I suppose you could scavange one from a junk fuel distributor.

Another possibility (pure guesswork based on how the distributor works) is wear on the slit for this fuel line. If the slit wore so it extends lower than the other slits, possibly even a closed plunger might still leave the bottom of the slit exposed and thus provide a path. If this is so the unit is junk, as there would be no practical way to repair this. While abrasive wear seems unlikely in an engine which mostly sat for 16 years, who knows. Rust doing the same thing?