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When i went to start my car this morning, my upper intake exploded! I turned my key like normal to start the car. The engine turned for a second, and then BOOOM! It was like a backfire, but blew up my intake. Anyone know what would cause this? I really appreciate any suggestions, thanks!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you just had an encounter with a faulty FPR (Fuel Pressure Regulator). I believe it was recalled, but you might have got another defective one. I know the same thing happened to zuper8 with her old SLE. Same thing happened to her, but IIRC she was driving on the highway at the time.

Wow, yeah, I'm lucky it didn't happen while I was driving! So, does that mean I should replace the fuel pressure regulator also?

If you can salvage ANYTHING off that engine, you dodged a massive bullet. I'm pretty sure her car was totalled after it exploded...

But yeah, you should definitely replace the FPR if you can salvage the rest. I'd let some other people come in here with some opinions on whether or not to salvage the engine, though...

(I hope Zuper doesn't mind if I grab this from her facebook )

If you do the work, you'll want to make sure you get any and all pieces out of the intake runners and elsewhere. Maybe use a vacuum.

Yeah, mine doesn't look quite as bad as Zuper's pic, but similar. I will definitely make sure to clean out any fragments and pieces of plastic from my plennum. My plennum's under lifetime warranty since I replaced it two years ago, so I'm going to give it a shot and keep my fingers crossed that nothing else is messed up. URG.

Ugh, yeah, there is/was a recall for faulty FPR's on 97-99 or so L36 models. Diaphragm inside FPR ruptures, fuel gets sucked into UIM, and kablammo.

Hopefully the UIM's tall plastic runners kept fragments from going down into the LIM runners. Carefully inspect the MAP sensor, and the TB and all it's sensors, all wiring, vac lines, fuel lines, fuel rail, radiator, belts and hoses for shrapnel damage.

Post us some pictures, too.

Yoshicoby wrote:Yeah, mine doesn't look quite as bad as Zuper's pic, but similar. I will definitely make sure to clean out any fragments and pieces of plastic from my plennum. My plennum's under lifetime warranty since I replaced it two years ago, so I'm going to give it a shot and keep my fingers crossed that nothing else is messed up. URG.

I hope this works for you, but usually the warranty only covers manufacturers defects. They might deny a warranty issue due to this being a know problem.

agrazela wrote:Ugh, yeah, there is/was a recall for faulty FPR's on 97-99 or so L36 models. Diaphragm inside FPR ruptures, fuel gets sucked into UIM, and kablammo.

Hopefully the UIM's tall plastic runners kept fragments from going down into the LIM runners. Carefully inspect the MAP sensor, and the TB and all it's sensors, all wiring, vac lines, fuel lines, fuel rail, radiator, belts and hoses for shrapnel damage.

Thank you! I will definitely check for shrapnel damage. Good advice!

I called O'Reilly where I bought my UIM, and they said to bring in all the pieces and they'll swap out a new one for me. Good news, but just the beginning...

OH, also... I sprayed fire extinguisher also to put out flames. Do I need to do any extra cleaning for that too?

Is this on the '98 SLE in your avatar? If so, we will move this to the right section.

As far as the fire extinguisher, if it was a Co2 then it will not be any problem at all. If it was a dry chemical then you will surely have a very large mess to clean up. That powder gets everywhere!

Yeah its for my '98. Sorry I posted this in the wrong section.. As far as the fire extinguisher, it was a dry chemical, but I only shot it for a second. Still gonna be a clean-up though!!

I personally would remove the LIM, clean everything up best I could, vacuum the intake ports in the heads, slather the valley between heads with cheap oil, let it drain to the oil pan, and drain the oil. Then put in the aluminum LIM gaskets for their piece of mind.

Best way to post pics: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=146

Here they are:

wow that must of been one hell of a explosion ... It blew the engine cover to pieces .. wow I hope your engine isn't totalled ... but to think with that amount of damage outside the engine I would think for sure that you have some internal damage

Dang, that did a lot of damage!! Hope it's all good.

wow, glad no one was hurt and the car didnt burn down