I'm curious to know if anybody else has had problems with a Holley AFPR. I've now had 2 that wouldn't allow for more than 30psi. They where both installed correctly but both performed exactly the same. Switching to an old Crane AFPR (also a POS) cures the problem. I'm not looking to start an anti-Holley AFPR flame war. I found 3 other cases of the exact same problem by doing a quick search. I'm just curious to know if their are more.

 

Well I know that some people have problems with Holley AFPR's not holding pressure with the key off... I also have a personal experience on a friends car.

My friend installed one, worked fine for a few weeks, then he developed a surging problem, mostly at idle. He went as far as to replace his injectors, get a full tune up and a new cat. Still surged. It seemed to get slightly better with higer fuel pressure (>50 PSI) which made the car run rich, but pretty much stopped the surging.

He decided to try putting a stock FPR back on. So we did that, and the surging disappeared completely.

One other note, when we set the pressure with the Holley AFPR and then connected the vacuum line the pressure dropped 15-18 psi, which seemed a bit much. The stock seemed to drop less with the vacuum line attached.

 

It is a well know fact that the Holley AFPR's have issues. I had to go through two before I got one from Holley that worked correctly. Holley paid for them of course. If you can not get a holley to work right, you are able to go with a Grand National AFPR, they are a bolt in, at a price of course.

 

That's the problem. I don't think that it is a well known fact. I was expecting a bunch of people to post in this thread saying that they've had no problems. I personally know of several people that use them and swear by them. Oh well, live and learn. I'll be sending this one back to Summit next week.

Screw me once, shame on you.
Screw me twice, shame on me.

 

mysticwizard, i just hope u wont develop the same symptoms. only time will tell

 

What exactly is the problem with them though? There really isn't that much to an AFPR, they're not the most complicated devices in the world.

 

i think the spring fatigues, then they can no longer regulate correctly, they begin having pressure fluctuations. I also could see the diaphram tear, and leak.

 

After installing both of mine when they where new I found that the car would not make more than about 30psi fuel pressure with the vacuum line removed. Everything was perfect after reinstalling my old Crane AFPR with the factory diaphragm. For some reason the check ball on the bottom of the Holley AFPR is flat on one side. I'm assuming that reason is to locate the spring that holds tension on the back of the check ball. Anyway, what has happened with both of mine is that tiny spring pops out and the check ball rotates back around so that the flat side is sitting over top of the port in the fuel rail. This causes the low pressure problem. I'd thought that I had broken the first one by tightening the adjustment **** in to far. However, i was careful to not over tighten the second one and it still broke.

It's a shame because the Holley is easily the nicest AFPR out there. It's easily adjusted, includes a new diaphragm, and looks great. I just can't seem to get one to work

 

So the flat side of the ball is not supposed to be over the port in the fuel rail? Looking at mine, the ball doesn't seem to want to turn any other way, it likes being flat side down...

oh wait... crap, i turned it over.. there is a little spring in there... so the round side of the ball should be down?


My inventer mind is going now... how bout using a little epoxy on the little spring and making it stay attached to the flat side of the ball, then rotating the ball around, round side out after the epoxy dries... It looks like it could be done, have to compress that little spring a bit to rotate it around if the spring was attached to the ball... i think it's worth a try.

 

I must be lucky. I bought mine used and no problems for a year now.....knock on wood......

Conrad

 

I may have it mixed up. The flat side should probably be facing down. The problem with mine was that springs popped out and the ball rotated to the side it wasn't supposed to be on.

 

DO NOT try and turn the ball around... if that little spring comes out of there it's impossible to get back in without mutilating the little taper that holds the ball in.

Just thought I would warn everyone... also comparing it to the stock one, the flat side is supposed to be down, the stock FPR has a flat disk that goes over the port in the fuel rail, it only makes sense the Holley would have to have a flat spot (the flat spot on the ball) to go over the port.

 

My Holley came only with the upper regulator body & adjustment ****, spring, spring brass disk, brass vacuum port nipple, and diaphram.

There are no parts in the base of my '88 stock TPI regulator base that would block flow to the fuel rails.

As can be seen there's plenty of room for adjustment, the static pressure is currently at 44psi, a couple of turns will increase it to well over 60psi.

 

Agreed. When I removed both of mine the ball had turned around; the round section was facing down.

So yours wasn't holding pressure and the ball was in the correct position?

 

I only get about 30psi with the adjustment **** maxed out on mine. And that's with the vacuum line off.

The little A/F gauge in my DFI software was pegged to the right, lol.

 

It was on my friend's car, which developed surging shortly after it was installed. The problem was corrected after a stock regulator was put back on.

It held pressure and seemed to work alright, but it caused the car to surge. I also noticed that when you set it, say 48 PSI, and then connected the vacuum line it would drop to like 32 PSI, which seemed like too big of a drop... Only time will tell, I am going to put it on my car and see how it acts when I get my new engine in,

 

I had a holley for about 1 month before it stopped holding pressure. I sent it back and got a new one that works fine

 

Just to clear something up, I was talking about the AFPR that came on the HSR. Is that what everyone else is reffering to?

 

If not the Holley AFPR then which one would be the best in your opinions?

 

I'm not. I'm talking about the stock style AFPR. It's part #512-501. IIRC, the HSR version is a TR AFPR.

 

AFAIC, the Holley is still the best one out there. I just havn't had much luck with them. It's quite possible that something else is causing the problem. But, i'm pretty sure it's not........

Here's a list of AFPR off the top of my head in no particular order.......

TPiS
Crane
Accel
Holley
BBK
Mallory
Hypertech (discontinued)
SLP (discontinued)

I think a Mallory (cheapest) with a new diaphragm would also be a good choice.

 

no problems out of mine so far, but after reading this post I guess I will go doublecheck everything.

 

found this while searching for info. My car recently started surging at idle... can be rather annoying and dangerous.. a few times it gets so low the car wil jump forward as the ECM tries to compensate.

My Holley was purchased used, and was on for a good 6 months with no problems. It's not holding pressure now, and the gauge jumps a good 10 psi with every injector pulse.

I don't have stock one to use.. old one was bad, hole in the diaphragm.. lol GM wanted $125 for replacement. I said no thanks.