WARNING! Check your fuel rails for rust. Possible fire risk.

After checking my car on a ramp for pre-Euro trip 2 weeks ago, I thought I noticed a couple of slightly damp areas at the front of the engine. Viewed from under the car, looking past the gearbox I assumed these damp patches were slight oil leaks from the heads. Not bad enough to worry about. There seemed to be a leak on both banks, LH & RH. When I showed my mate though, the RH (drivers) side had dried up & no dampness was visible. Uh oh I thought........must be fuel (due to evaporation speed). I promptly started the engine & re-checked. As predicted, the RH bank was wet again. With a bright LED light & more attention, I could see it was coming from the circular end of the fuel injector rail where 2 pipes join to feed the LH rail. Now, this area it at arms length from beneath & the same from above. Space for 1 hand. Great! It wasn't obvious (from this distance) where the leak was coming from. I could see some corrosion so I opted to add a jubilee clip to the hose closest to the leak. After 30 mins struggling, it was fitted.....but made no difference. We cleaned & dried the rail. This time, I stayed under the car whilst it was started. I could see the damp area was coming from the circular end of the rail, looking like a rusty core plug. Great. A quick call to Porsche established that the new part was £750! Wow! I had a decision to make. Leave the car here, borrow a car, come back at the weekend & remove the engine. Or...... ....fashion a temporary repair so I could get home & think more about the repair. Hmmmmm. Temporary repair was attempted. We measured the OD of the rail, visited the local hydraulic hose company, purchased a large diameter fuel rated hose that was just perfect size. We then pre-plugged one end of a short length of hose, applied some 60 second fuel resistant epoxy glue & fitted over the rusty rail end. I fitted a safety wire to help prevent a blow off if pressure built up. After 5 minutes, we started the car & run on the ramp for 30 minutes. All dry. So, with an extra fire extinguisher, I set off home via the back roads avoiding the M25. All good. As people will know on here, my Ethos is to keep this car on the road on a tight budget. So an alternative to a £750 rail was researched. A used set from Germany was located for £110 & wow, what a great condition set it was. (photos to follow). I sand blasted the new rails (just a few tiny areas) and applied a tough textured coating to help prevent this again. Looking at the engine bay. The decision now was to decide if to fit these with the engine in (at home) or plan to remove the engine at my mates garage. I am slightly cautious that disturbing a 20 year old engine installation just before a Swiss Alp tour might be a risk. I appreciate that we might discover & fix other issues by removing the engine......but, we might also create new issues due to disturbing items unnecessarily. So today, Fathers Day, I started the "engine in" fuel rail swap.

Used fuel rails from Germany. After light sandblasting & masked for painting After tough coating applied. Note holes are all plugged.

Imagine trying to complete a Rubics cube........through a sharp letter box......with one hand. That's pretty much how it felt removing the fuel rails from the car this morning. Sub-note. On early cars, it seems the coolant level sensor is placed in the bottom of the expansion tank, which prevents its removal? Great! On the Porsche EPC, it shows this sensor mounted low down but from the side. Maybe an update? So, the expansion tank stayed put.....restricting my access to the LH rail just as the AC pipes restricted access to the RH rail. After much wiggling of injector connectors, a few bolts, pipes, clips and the rails were loose. Ahhhhh. A clip around the pipes at the front of the engine slows progress. I was forced to cut the old pipes and slide them through the clip. Hang on, where is the RH front injector? The rail clip has also rotted away leaving the injector in place. The injector itself is also rusted beyond use. It seems this area is prone to the most corrosion for some odd reason. Replacement injector on order so next installment delayed. Watch this space.

LH rail removed RH rail removed Injectors out RH front injector, closest to initial leaky rail location. Hmmmmm, why here?

Lucky you noticed before it got worse

Lol... I like the analogy ..... ! Good write up and a determined mind to get this done ....you are a better man than I...!!

Brave stuff and great information, thanks.

Brave or stupid? Here's the better side. LH. And the temporary repair. Inc safety wire. Got me home & to Beaulieu & back.

You need to remove the paint from the bolted area of the rails. Ideally you should have masked them. If you bolt coated areas, the paint will crack under the bolt head and you'll lose the fastener torque.

Ragpicker noticed mine were a little rusty when I posted pics of my engine out but luckily it is only surface rust and I painted it with POR15, hopefully that will help it last a lot longer.

Very good point & good practice. This finish is super thin & I used a threadloc on this occasion. Replacement injector arrives tomorrow, then its playtime again. (The injectors have all been cleaned, rust protected and painted on the metal body areas. Should last another 20 years....maybe?)

C11BRA is alive again. Until next time.........

Well Done. I know mine are rusty. Been spraying ACF50 on them for the moment. Thanks for sharing the photos and info. Will have to wait until I earn some more money..

ACF50 - magic stuff, Have been spraying my manifold bolts with the stuff hoping that it magically makes a difference when the time come to replace them. I think I should also hit the fuel rails.

Might order some ACF50. Sounds like good stuff.