Hello all, so a friend and I just got *almost* done doing the LIM gasket and we ran into a problem with the fuel supply. The fuel feed pipe that bolts to the rearward side of the fuel rail seemed to have no o-ring on it when it came out and given the distinct lack of info on the feed side o-ring in the Haynes manual, we decided to just put the pipe back in as it came out. Note that it was not leaking prior to taking it apart. As anyone would expect, fuel shot everywhere upon priming the system. So I got on the google machine and started searching around, found the correct o-ring, and $14 later from the dealership got it back in. Sure enough... primed the system, and again, fuel shot everywhere. Pull the feed rail and the thing is freaking shredded, and we only found half the o-ring in the fuel rail.

So, can anyone give me some advice as to what to do now? Only thing I can think of is to pull the rail and all the injectors, flush out the rail to make sure we got all the o-ring fragments, and try again. What do you guys think? Any other words of wisdom? It'* much appreciated guys, thanks!

I apologize for the thread bump, but I forgot to mention it is on a 2002 Buick Century, and the o-ring that was supposed to be on the feed line was neither on the feed line nor in the fuel rail when we pulled it out, again it had no leaks. We just assumed it might have been a compression fitting within the rail, neither of us saw it go anywhere when we pulled it out.

Just had a similar problem when doing the head gasket/intake gaskets on my mother'* boyfriend'* '95 Century 3100. This was also on the feed line... Unbeknownst to us, when I pulled the fuel line, the o-ring fell out and was sitting in the sludge on top of the transmission.

I would make sure the o-ring pieces are fully cleaned out of the fuel rail, and replace it with another new one. I believe the correct size is 10.8mm x 2.4mm or 10.9mm x 1.9mm.

When you reassemble the line, stick the steel straight in all the way before beginning to thread the nut into the rail. Try to hold the steel line perfectly straight as you tighten the nut. It sounds like you may have started the threads of the nut while the line was crooked, and the o-ring got caught up in the mix. It'* an easy mistake to make if you're in a hurry - been there, done that.

Good luck!

This is why I never dissconnect the fuel lines. I usually pull the fuel rail and bungee it off to the side of the engine compartment.

What o-ring did you buy?
Did you go with an AC Delco Part # 217452
It should be 7.35MM ID X 1.66MM THK

Sounds good, and thanks! We're going to pull the rail and then the injectors off of the rail and blow some air through there and see if anything comes out. I think we probably overtightened it too, the Haynes manual doesn't seem to say anything about it but the Chilton'* (yes, I bought both) says to tighten it to I like like 13 ft-lbs or something. This time I think we'll snug it in there first and try it before we tighten it down harder.

Yeah, no doubt. I read about being able to do that when I was searching before posting, and had to bang my head on the wall for not trying that first.

I ended up with an AC Delco 217-1523, the one you referenced looks like it was for a Cadillac STS. Is that a common replacement?

Here is the exploded view of the fuel system, with the O ring in question marked 574, which is here.

I looked on rockauto and found that under fuel injector o-ring, it said "SEAL,FUEL FEED PIPE(O RING) 4 DOORS; PART OF PIPE,feed and return Assembly "

I see the one you got, and rockauto lists it in the same section, and says
"SEAL,FUEL FEED PIPE(O RING) 4 DOORS"

Good job looking it up on Nalley Buick parts site, I'd just stick with what they have listed, hope you get it fixed soon, let us know how it goes.

Well gents, I finally have some good news. We went back to my buddy'* place after work to try to figure it out. After hearing ahicks66 say his O-ring fell on the tranny, we started looking to see what we could find. As soon as we shined the flashlight down there, bam, other half of the ripped O-ring. Feeling comfortable that the first O-ring did the same, we put the new O-ring on, tightened 'er down, and turned the key. Nothing. Turned the key to prime it a couple more times, still nothing. So we reassemble the rest of the top end, and before we can start it we dropped a socket down behind the motor. As my buddy was fishing for it he found that damn original O-ring! What luck right? So we got it the rest finished up and crack 'er over, starts second or third crank. No leaks, no coolant smell out of the exhaust, no misfires. We let it warm up, drained the radiator, and flushed the system as best as we could. Problem is, we still seem to have some oil floating around in the coolant. Anyone have any tips to finish getting that oil out?

Thanks again for all the help everyone!!

If you have the time, get a bottle of emulsifier. Something that organically breaks down oil. Add it to water, put it into your cooling system, run it, flush, repeat. You should be good after 2 treatments.

That is great news man, you got lucky indeed!

Take Mikes advice, get something like a organic dish soap, and put around one cup in the cooling system, and leave it in there till you drive a for a few miles, drain it, put some water in and run it for a few miles, then drain it again,by then you should be ready to put the coolant/water back in it, if not another fill and drain won't hurt, you want to see clean/clear water coming out of there before adding the coolant/water that will stay in there .

NOTE: I have not done this myself, but I have heard dish washing pellets work well, if not better, and they do not foam up like the detergent.