Fuel Injection spares for the road?

[SergeantSavage]

My Spider has made the leap back to street legal everyday use. Under the hood I've done nothing but change the oil and filter (Rotella 15/40) and done a compression test (120-135). It runs really well. Starts easy, idles smooth, does not overheat, etc.. A timing belt replacement is on my list but I'm looking for advice about the injection components. If you were going to drive a fuel injected spider on a long road trip, what might you carry as spares? Those old electrical components must be questionable. Are there any known failure points? Thanks!

[manoa matt]

Probably not so much with the FI components themselves. However the electronic ignition system has a few parts that most owners carry spares in the trunk or glovebox

Spare distributor cap and rotor, electronic pickup, controll module behind coil. One spare spark plug wire. Maybe a 1-2 foot length of fuel injected fuel hose and a few FI hose clamps. Spare "V" belt.

If you've done nothing but change oil, I would change all the coolant hoses and coolant itself. Flush it out while there. Water pump is usually changed when changing the timing belt and timing belt tensioner.

[TX82FIAT]

The bosh L-Jet is pretty durable. The ignition and some components of the electrical, wires, dis cap, pickup, alternator are where most have issues. Clean your ground wires, pods and fuse box if you have not already. A lot of people carry a spare hazzard switch since they are prone to act up as well. The list goes on. it sounds like your car is running good so as my Italian grandfather said "if it aint broke, don't fix it" however, an once of prevention is the way to go with these cars.

[vandor]

For the FI I'd carry a spare double relay, maybe a fuel pump if you have a known good one.
What spares you carry also depends on what maintenance has been done on the car - the more new parts on the car, the less spares you have to carry (water pump, v-belt, hoses)
For a reliable FI system I would change all high-pressure hoses, both in the engine compartment, and under the car.

[narfire]

Csaba is so right about replacing the FI hoses. The short pieces from the rail to the injectors should be changed if still original. They have a nasty habit of developing the smallest crack and at 35 psi will drip fuel onto the alt and starter. Will take about an hour or perhaps a bit more to pull the rail and swap out.Remember to use the proper fuel injection clamps. If you have access,perhaps have the injectors cleaned , flow tested and the small internal screen filter changed, here that cost me $25 per injector. One of mine had a reduced flow compared to the other 3 so I found another to replace.
When I noticed a 79 or later car being parted out,I picked up a whole spare electrical distributor at a reasonable cost and have that in the trunk with a new electrical pick up installed.
Chris

[wikkid]

Although it sounds as if your injectors are just fine, if you do want to have them calibrated and refurbished and have new lines, filters, etc. there are some good injector services out there. You can take the whole rail assembly off with injectors and all and send it to these guys, who will do the work and reinstall it all on the rail, with new hoses and all, ready to re-install. Unless you want to spend the time and effort to do this finicky work with very short, precise hose runs, it might be something to consider.
(PS no affiliation).

[SergeantSavage]

Thanks to all of you! I couldn't ask for better input than you have provided. It's good to know that the FI system itself is relatively trouble free. I will take your advice and gather some ignition spares.

My radiator was rebuilt just before I got the car so it and the coolant are in great shape. It also came with a recently replaced fuel tank, though I'm not sure if the pump was replaced or not.

I'll look closely at the condition of the lines and hoses, and plan on replacing the water pump when I do the belt.

Thanks again.

[Razooli]

I picked up a whole spare electrical distributor at a reasonable cost and have that in the trunk with a new electrical pick up installed.
Chris

Ditto on this! My rotor disintegrated, shattered the cap and the advance springs were gone. Luckily, I was only one block from my house, but I too now have a spare dizzy in the trunk along with the tools necessary to install it.

[zachmac]

You can take the whole rail assembly off with injectors and all and send it to these guys, who will do the work and reinstall it all on the rail, with new hoses and all, ready to re-install. (PS no affiliation).[/quote]

Or just send the injectors of to http://www.witchhunter.com

[SergeantSavage]

Seems like I need an FI parts car then, because I'm to the point where I don't want to take the car down for maintenance. I'm definitely going to look into swapping out the fuel rail/hoses/injector assembly with a rebuilt unit.

Just trying to avoid the forced downtime that comes from ignoring this stuff. The car runs so well that it would be easy to forget that it's doing so with 32 year old parts.

[wikkid]

I think the downtime for any of the sendaway injector services, even including shipping times, is pretty quick.