Repairing schrader valve

My fuel lines sschrader valve bent when i was connecting my gauge to it. As a result fuel leaks out the moment I screw it in and pressure drops immediately. Do I need a new fuel rail or can this be fixed?

Trying to troubleshoot an intermittent no start on a 2000 chevy malibu 3.1.

Also, can a damaged valve affect fuel pressure? Also.. other than a leaky regulator and leaky injectors what else can account for rich trims in the mid high negatives? My ltft is -14

Hey Donny!
Could you post a pic so we can see what kind of damage we're talking about here?
Sometimes the little pintle in the core can get cocked and stuck down in the open position. If that's all that happened, you can usually just poke it with a pick and get it to pop back up into the closed position.

There's also a schrader valve core tool you can use to just screw the little core out and screw another one in. So hopefully you can get away with not having to replace the whole rail.

Yo Donnyten! I totally agree with Noah, the Schrader valve can likely be replaced if you can find the valve and a removal tool.

When does your Malibu decide not to start?

Weird. thought I replied to this when Noah posted. Whatup guyz

I'll try to get a picture but it's hardly noticeable ( bent core). If I can get a removal tool and remove it that would be great. Are valve cores Universal?

This actually started 3 weeks ago when running back and forth between job interviews. I would come back out and after the interview which would last an hour, on average the car would not start.took a few tries. More of a surging start but didn't seem electrically related. more recently in the mornings the car would start then immediately shut off. Key on ignition crank the car starts again.

Fuel trims are looking pretty rich. Fuel trims improve when accelerating and immediately go right back into the negatives when I let off .Before doing my head gasket and timing cover gasket a while back as you all may know from the troubles I had, including that no fuel issue , I had to end up getting a new-used ebay fuel rail which came with injectors already and because they are a pain in the butt to get off the rail I left them on and saved the old ones. So maybe one or more are defective? Leaking? Not sure can't really test pressure right now

Anyway, before I was experiencing a rich condition due to a leaking regulator which fixed the issue.... before I did all the work. So now I'm trying to see what's going on. Not sure if pressure is being affected without my gauge working but I'll look into borrowing a core removal tool

Also when 12 volts is applied to the fuel pump how hard is the pump supposed to push fuel out? Is it supposed to forcefully spray out? When I apply 12 volts to the pump a while back it was like turning a water hose on low-medium.

I had this same issue last week on a 1993 isuzu rodeo with the 3.2 the shradder is right next to the firewall. conveniently LoL give ya access in a place you can not access. the boys were thinking. long story short after checking the pressure i found it splurtting a stream of gas the same size as the shradder valve.. went to the local hydrollic parts store, picked up a metal jsc type cap for .93 cents, went home screwed in down on, snugged it with a 9/16. problem solved, no leak

PS. as it turned out,
pump was Deadheding 62lbs, running pressure was 32lbs
spec was 42-48lbs.
bad regulator

Hmmm. Ill have to get this fuel rail fixed first. This morning it was bit worse than usual

Donnyten wrote: Hmmm. Ill have to get this fuel rail fixed first. This morning it was bit worse than usual

Any chance you could steal the valve out of the old rail? Usually these kind of valves can be swapped with a simple core remover. Here's an Amazon example .

Small update

I can get the car to start if I slightly gas it as I'm starting while holding the RPMs up for a little while gently releasing the pedal. Then it idles on its own.

I borrowed a valve core removal tool and tightened the valve in the rail and checked pressure again. It fluctuates between 42 and 44 psi while running but quickly bleeds off to zero Key on.

My filter was recently replaced before this happened while working on other repairs so I'm sure that's out of the question. Fuel pressure regulator seems to be working fine which leads me to the injectors or a bad check valve in the fuel pump.

I can get an after-market pump from eBay for under 40 bucks which seems to have good reviews. Being that the car has 230,000 miles on it I think it may be safe to assume the pump is failing as it has never been replaced. The only other diagnostic measure to see if injectors are leaking is to remove the valve cover and lift up the fuel rail and key on while checking to see if any of them are leaking.... something I would rather not do on this particular type of engine. As tedious as it is

If you have any other suggestions let me know please

Yay, update!

Getting it to start with the throttle kinda sounds like an idle control valve problem, like the engine isn't getting enough air during startup. Didn't you have a similar symptom before? :huh: I think I recall an issue with the throttle body gasket, correct me if I'm wrong.

How quickly does the pressure bleed off? Seconds, or minutes? If it's that fast, then you can likely scratch injectors off the suspect list. They'd have to be stuck wide open, and you'd probably notice that with a misfire and white smoke out the exhaust.

Thinking about the easiest way to rule out the pressure regulator in the rail... Does your fuel pressure gauge kit include a shut off valve? Or, are the fuel lines rubber at any point? Fastest test you can do would be to block off the return side and (briefly) run the fuel pump. If it keeps leaking down, go for the fuel pump. If it now holds, go for the pressure regulator.

I suspected the idle air control valve as well. I tried unplugging the electrical connector as I heard that on some Vehicles it'll cause it to open. Didn't seem to have any effect if that's a viable troubleshooting step.

The pressure bleeds down to zero in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately my fuel lines are aluminum so I can't pinch the return line.

Donnyten wrote: I suspected the idle air control valve as well. I tried unplugging the electrical connector as I heard that on some Vehicles it'll cause it to open. Didn't seem to have any effect if that's a viable troubleshooting step.

Viable enough for me! :lol: So IAC disconnected, no improvement? Does the engine also want to stall when you let off the throttle, or coming to a stop?

The pressure bleeds down to zero in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately my fuel lines are aluminum so I can't pinch the return line.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Does the rail use male quick connect fittings? If so, you could rig up a piece of hose with band clamps and vice grips to create a plug for the return side of the rail. It'll be ugly as hell. :lol: But if it doesn't leak, then it'll point you in the right direction.

Double check purge valve make sure it's not stuck open they can suck fuel vapor causing a long crank and open throttle helps (sometimes very hard to start after a fuel fill up) also the egr valve sticking can cause a hard to start symptom . You should be able to disconnect return line at motor and plug it to check fuel pump bleed down

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Hey man. No improvement when the idle valve is disconnected.

Once the engine starts and runs fine no stalling or anything.

Yes the rail uses the quick connect fittings but unfortunately it's a supah pain in the butt to get to.

Can't we rule out the regulator if the vacuum line is unplugged to see if pressure Rises when the engine is running? The regulator was replaced not that long ago before all of this but of course that doesn't mean it can't fail again

I'll take all this into consideration. Thank you

Did someone tear the last chapter out of this book? I'm curious how it turned out.

The fuelpump check valve ended up being bad. I forgot to update this thread a while ago

Thank you, I feel whole again:-)

Rockyroad wrote: Thank you, I feel whole again:-)

:lol: Thanks Donnyten!