ICQ>

I would have posted this as a follow up to my previous message, but I thought it might be good for everyone to read it (all CIS users with cold start woes, anyway).

I was inspired today to take out the regulator and tear it apart to see if I could fix it. I would note that if I could do it, any fool could. It's very simple inside.

When you take off the four mouting screws, you are presented with a little sombrero hat type metal deal, onto which sits a heavy spring (between it and the base). Beneath the hat is a pin which sits in the peak of it. Beneath the hat (around the spring) is a lever arm which attatches to the electrics. I presume it is a bimetal thing, and the coil wrapped around it a heater which causes it to bend.

To recondition:

1. Take off the spring, hat and pin and set them aside (keep track of the screws. Sounds simple enough but I "misplaced" all four by placing them on the bumper of my other car and driving it down the street).

2. Unbolt the lever arm with the coil around it. You can't actually take it out of the housing without some difficulty, so you'll just have to let it hang down the side.

3. Now you should be able to see a circular piece of metal with four screws in it, at the end of the unit where the banjo unions attatch. There is a socket in the middle in which the pin sits. Unscrew the screws, and carefully remove the disc of metal. There are actually three discs. One (the thickest) sits on top. Two thin discs lie between that and the housing.

4. My biggest problem (and no doubt everyone's) was the corrosion of the metal parts. The two thin discs (very important) were not corroded. The larger one was. I used carb cleaner, a toothbrush and a screwdriver to scrub and

scrape the crap off. The underside was fine, which was the most important bit. The reason the unit failed was the very small dowel-cup-thing in which the pin sits had siezed from corrosion. After having freed it and cleaned the corrosion off it, I used some light oil (singer) to lubricate it. Carb cleaner was sprayed liberally over all the orifices in the housing and the two thin metal discs. I gave the rest of the unit a clean up (none too carefully, since it seemed irrelevant). I cleaned up the pin and the sombrero hat thing, as well.

5. Essentially, the dowel-cup-thing inside the large disc must be free to move. It is it pressing against the thin discs which alters the fuel pressure (duh). Put everything back in reverse order, and I tell you it will look like a new unit. Well not quite, but y'know.

6. Once everything is screwed in tight, put it back in and hope for the best.

Novices: you'll probably need to remove the rubber boot between the AMM and the throttle body to get access to the bolts. I didn't take it off, and ended up breaking my flexible screwdriver extension. C'est la vie. But it's really not that hard and now..

(Trumpeting).. No problems with the cold start!! Rev 'er up to 4 thousand no problems right after she cranks over. I was pleased I tell you that. Best hour or so I ever spent.

You might want to waste your time getting second handies from junkyards, but I presume they are all going to have (or get) the same corrosion problem. With a little bit of oil and cleaning, the unit should go for years yet.

Owen in Australia all the wiser.