I decided to have some fun this weekend and change the intake gaskets on our higher mileage Bonneville. They were leaking a little oil and I would see occasional drops of coolant running down the block, so it was time. Everything was going pretty smooth, until I was putting new O rings on the injectors, noticing they were full of rusty flakes. HUH? I took the injectors back out, took the rail out for closer inspection and all this rusty gas drained out! I washed it out with hot water and my son broke up the visible large flakes with a scribe and we kept bathing it till it was clean.

Has anyone had this happen before, and where would be a good place to look for the rust? I would think the filter would catch it if it was in the tank?

That'* probably coming from your fuel tank. Or at least originating from there. Change your fuel filter ASAP.

The rust may be coming from inside the gas lines. Are the lines badly corroded?
Either that or the strainer in your gas-tank isn't doing its job AND the fuel filter is missing the rust-flakes too. Hopefully it'* just the fuel-filter, because the gas tank is a pain to remove.

Its been around 30k since the filte was changed, good call there. The car as a whole is VERY rust free, the underside is as shiny as the topside, however it does seem that the lines or tank is rusting LOL.

I went ahead and took my time cleaning everything, changed the stat to a 180, new PVC valve to replace the old one that was split in two, new gaskets on everything I touched. It runs sweet as before.

I will get a real WIX filter soon to replace that old one.

check the fuel filter and if u want drop the tank and see how ur strainer looks

I'd rather take a beating than drop a tank Of course, with one of these, http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?i...rID=142&KICKER it wouldnt be as bad LOL.

I will change the filter soon, watch it and hopefully the tank wont need dropped.

When are you getting the new ride?

september 10

yeah I dropped my tank like 2 weeks ago 'just to look around' and when I pulled the breather tube a ton of rust fell in my eye. Hurt like a b**** but I asked one of the mechanics wandering around what the deal was. Aparently it has to do with the fuel thats used today. He said in the breather it wasen't too big a deal but if its making it all the way to your fuel rail thats obviously a problem.

I'd be more tempted to say somehow it originated in your fuel rail just because fuel filters tend to clog rather than let large rust particles through. I don't believe they have an internal bypass (?) so it seems odd that "visible large flakes" would make it past a filter designed to filter down to the microns. The problem there is, after probably clogging the heck out of your injectors, it would make its way back down your return line and begin clogging your strainer and later the filter. I dunno, thats oddball....

I finally carved out a few spare moments to install the WIX filter I picked up for it, good time to discover you also need new Viton o rings to reassemble it. Runs just about the same, still that extended cranking problem if its sat for a bit, but once it starts, it runs well.

I did also price a fuel pressure tester, 50 bucks or so for one, anyone know a cheaper place or should I just bite it and get one?

Sorry I didnt see this earlier. This happened to my 91 Regal last summer. It wound up being the lines rusted on the inside. The car was like yours very little rust. My fuel rail was chock full and the ends of the injectors were packed.

It started running ruff occaisionally. I decided to change the FPR. When I pulled it it was full of this fine rust. This was the beginning of my nightmare, I thought I had been sabatoged. This is also why your car is starting slow. The FPR is letting pressure off while it sits. If you cycle your fuel pump before hitting the starter you will find it starts right up - I think.

Anyhow in the search for why and where did the rust come from I found it inside the lines. I removed the filter and ripped that on my bandsaw and found no rust inside. I dropped the tank and found a small pile of rust sitting in the baffel, it came there via the fuel return line. The inside of the tank was clean and rust free and the sock was intact so that wasnt the problem. I decided to replaced the lines/sending unit and tank because it was getting rusted bad on top of tank where they do go out. The Regal has a two piece line unit between the filter and the tank, I believe your H body has one, just the sending unit clear to the filter. I cut a short piece of line off and ripped it lenght wise on the band saw and sure enough it had crusty rust scale on the inside of perfectly good looking lines.


My suggestion is only worry about the section from the filter to the rail.

When filter is removed, remove the line from the fuel rail and blow back through to get any loose stuff out. You could tap carefully on the line and maybe break some more scale loose and blow that out to. This is what I did with that long section. It never acted back up. Blow out the rail again and replace the FPR. I cleaned my injectors with one of those cheap Cambell Hausfeld " parts cleaners/wands. I picked away for awhile but didnt like the results and was worried about damaging the inside of injectors. I finally dug out my wand and sumersed the sypen end in diesel or kero and instantly had spotless injectors.