In attempting to eliminate vacuum leaks in the 95 Jetta 40th Celebration Edition (California, 2.0L BTW) , I decided to replace all the FI seals.
No problems getting the injectors out of the manifold or the fuel rail, and so I jump on the injectors and pop off the protective sleeve/cap that holds the manifold seal in place. Why? In my wisdom, I can see that the seal kits that I bought contain similar yellow parts, and I'm a "replace whatever you can while it's apart, provided it free" kind of guy. This cap is a soft plastic and in getting it off, I ding it up substantially... It still resembles a yellow cap but that's about it.
Opening up the seal kit (Bosch 1 287 010 704, containing 3 O-rings, light grey ring and yellow cap) and examining the new replacement sleeve/cap, I can see that it is about 1/16 to 3/32 longer, and that the opening for the FI orifices is actually smaller. OK, I'm assuming that this is a possible upgrade (although I'm not particularly happy at this point, because I know that would be a best case scenario). Reading the "Workshop Instructions" sheet under the "Please Note" section: "1. The old protective sleve must not be removed from injection valves with yellow supporting plate". If I creatively squint, I may be able to say that the plastic support plate was at one point in its life, "yellow".
Obviously, I now am aware that I have broken "Please Note 1." and am now the proud owner of a hacked up FI protective sleeve that may or may not be important (and required), and that may now be too brittle to safely go back into a live engine. The good news is that I have only removed/maimed/destroyed the yellow protective sleeve/cap from only one injector, resisting my usual urge to be efficient.
So:
- Any possibility of locating an exact replacement sleeve/cap.
- Can the protective sleeve be ignored, or is this part key to the FI spray pattern, etc.
- Should I just get a replacement injector?
- Has anyone else accomplished this feat of higher education and auto mechanics. Just so I know that I am not alone... This is the poor-man's version of the SETI project, sort of.
- Is this the wrong seal kit? If not, then as an observation in this particular case, this also means that the seal kit, really only has two usable O-rings, and three extra parts for your home-made Christmas ornaments.
Thanks for any help, TomA