I tried my car and noticed a really thin smoke coming from my MAF..
I take it off and smell the intake and it's gas fumes!

I changed the fuel pressure regulator yesterday but it wasn't doing this yesterday.
Is there anything I could've done wrong to cause this?
What exactly is happening?

Damnit..I connected everything back..and it seemed to be running a little better yesterday.
This is serious..

Thanks all..I'll be waiting for replies

 

Thats strange..whats the pressure set at??......Any leaks at the regulator??

 

It's not adjustable.
Yeah..I think there's a small leak. As in..there's gas present, but it's not any kind of steady leak..it just looks wet.

It's looking like I might have to pull it again.

I didn't torque it..so I suppose it's my fault..but I don't really have access to a torque wrench.

It stopped putting out fumes from there...but when I have it in gear and I'm driving, I have to keep my foot on the pedal or the RPMs will just go down and the engine will kill.

 

When you replaced the regulator did you replace the cover or just the rubber diaphragm assembly? If the new cover is bent, dented, malformed, etc it could be bumping up the pressure. You might want to switch back to the original cover.

It's not impossible the parts store gave you the wrong part either, but if it looked physically the same it's unlikely.

 

I only replaced the rubber diaphram assembly(the rubber diaphram with the spring, etc.)
I used the old cover..

I know they gave me the right part because the new one looked exaclty the same as the old one..except..at the top of the spring, the metal piece was tilted a little..but I figured it's even out with the cover on.

 

Did it look like it was dropped or crushed or anything like that? Pull the vacuum line and cycle the key from off to run a few times and see if gas comes out of the regulator. If you've got gas there, the diaphragm is torn.

 

The new regulator diaphragm torn?

Well, it'll be easy to check so I'll go ahead and do that tomorrow.

Thanks

Could it be that I didn't torque it to specifications?

 

I'm sure the torque spec is in in. lbs anyway. It only needs to be snug and a little more so it won't come off on it's own. If you're getting more fuel now then before, and the only thing you changed was the regulator I'd start doublechecking the regulator. A good visual inspection would be in order too. Look for anything you may have left disconnected, broken vacuum lines, broken sensors, etc. Parts store replacement pieces are usually made in Taiwan, China, etc and usually aren't the same grade as the OEM parts. It's also not unusual for parts store monkeys to several parts out of boxes and get them mixed up in the wrong boxes... It's unlikely you got a bad or wrong part, but not impossible.

Edit: Check your fuel return lines also, a restriction, kink, bend, etc, in the line can boost fuel pressure.

 

Alright, I'll check for it all.
I couldn't do it yesterday because my dad took his tools with him to go and do a job.
I'll take pictures of it all and report back with them and any notes.

Thanks..your help's appreciated.

EDIT: What sucks is that the fumes most likely ruined my MAF. Luckily for me, the stock V6 MAFs are just around $60. I unplugged it and noticed a slight change but not a kind of "oh..it's running alot better" change.

 

Unplugging the maf will just cause the computer to go into limp home mode. About the only time it'll run better with it disconnected is if the sensor is dead. A bit of gas fumes shouldn't hurt it...

 

Alright..I got it out again and now I think the problem is obvious..
The new one was faulty, bent:





I'm glad it's under warranty..
I tried taking the vacuum off of and cycled the key..no gas.

Thanks.

 

That rocks. A few summers ago a buddy of mine built a race car for the dirt circle tracks, and we spent the summer racing. Every week we changed the plugs and the oil, and so on. At one point we kept having problems with spark plugs, like 3-5 broken plugs per box of 8. The next time at the autoparts store we were telling the girl behind the counter they needed to stop dropping the plugs. Her reply and her coworker who overheard was "we don't drop plugs!". Two minutes later she turned around and knocked over a stack of Accel header plugs on the end cap behind her. They fell a good 3 feet to the floor, she picked them up and put them back on the shelf and never even thought for a second about how plugs react to being dropped. Parts store people, and their warehouse workers, and their manufacturers staff, don't even think about the parts they're handling.

Hope a new regulator fixes it.

 

Hah! Yeah..no wonder they don't make a fuss when you wanna return something.

Thanks. The bad thing is that they'll have to order a new one so it'll require two trips. So far, no one's stepping up to help.

I don't know if this'll fix it. I'm hoping it will...but I mentioned my plans to do the 2.8l-3.4l swap to my dad and he actually didn't have a problem with it. I've been planning this for a longg time and never told him because I thought I'd have to fight him about it.
But..nope..so the point is that what I do to this engine is limited to what I already have and what'll be swapped onto the 3.4l.
I can't afford to throw parts at it anymore unless they can be swapped over.

Thanks, Drew.

EDIT: By the way, in the bottom picture it looks like the old one was bent, too but it's not. They're both leaning because of the swivel thing at the bottom. I took that picture just to show the condition of the old daphragm.