Well check this out:

http://www.restockit.com/fuel-line-c...arisonshopping

For those of you who don't want to click on the link, here's what the description says:
So apparently this is a common problem with lots of cars. It's common enough that someone is marketing a check-valve specifically for this purpose. I think I'll order one and try it. I need to go measure my fuel line, however.

 

From a mechanic who has used this product sounds like a cool solution!! Let me know how it works and what size the lines are. They sell them on amazon so no tax or shipping costs.

Just make sure you read all the instructions, install the valve as close to the tank as possible, and make sure it is on the pressure line TO the engine with the arrow pointing to the front of the car. i have seen 3 installed wrong. one in the return line, and two right next to the engine. none of those three worked. there needs to be enough line in front of the valve so there is room for the pressure to occupy. then the engine will start. love it

 

Good work Sam! Let us know how it works out.

 

I think this part may solve your problem, just a reminder though, the returnless fuel system runs at very high fuel pressures (72 psi as opposed to the earlier 42 psi for the return-type) so take care to be sure the connections you make can take it. I looked at the part and the specs do not tell you what pressure the part is rated for. I would try to find out. I would check codes to make sure the fuel pressure sensor is working right too.

 

Can anyone tell me what size the fuel line is coming out of the gas tank? If no one knows, I'll just get under it and measure it with some calipers, however I don't know if the measurement is supposed to be inside diameter or outside diameter.

 

Unable to help with the size!

 

Just to add a little more info, when you shut off the engine on a healthy fuel system, the fuel pressure does go to near 0 fairly quickly (times vary but it can happen in 20 minutes or so). What does not happen is that the fuel does not run back into the tank, leaving the lines empty. As long as the lines are full of fuel, the 2 sec pump priming burst will fully pressurize it to start, so if you are looking at fuel pressures and worried that the pressure drops, that's normal. You just don't want empty lines, whcih are harder to test for.

 

I crawled up under the car to measure the fuel line today. The inline check-valves that I've seen come in two sizes, 5/16ths and 3/8ths. The O.D. on the fuel line, as measured with digital calipers, seemed to be about 10mm, or 0.393 inches. I'm not sure if it's a 10mm line or if it's just 3/8ths "nominal". I don't know if the extra 18/1000's is going to make a difference. I ordered a 3/8ths inch check valve and I'm going to see if I can make it work. Even if this doesn't fit perfectly I'm sure I'll be able to find a couple of 3/8ths to 10mm adapters to solder into the line to make it fit.

 

My check valve just showed up. I pulled out the digital calipers and I think it's going to fit. The inside diameter if the actual check valve (not the nut, but the valve itself) is .393 inches. That's probably going to be too tight to get the fuel line into the hole. The fuel line has an O.D of .393. But, a couple of minutes with some emery cloth should shrink the existing fuel line by a few thousandths so I can slide it into the valve. The nut on each side of the check-valve has an I.D. of .400 so there will be no problems there.

If the emery cloth doesn't do the trick, the valve came with two short pieces of pipe onto which flexible fuel hose can be slid. I'll just cut out about 6 inches of the hard line, install some flexible hose onto each side of the check-valve, and then slide the hose onto the hard line and hold it in place with some clamps.

Of course, I'll make a video of all of this so that everyone can see how cluttered my garage is.

Oh yeah... one other thing. This car sits so low to the ground that even when it's on ramps it's a tight squeeze to get underneath it. I have no doubt this is going to be a pain in the ***. In my dream home I'm going to have a lift built into the garage. That would be awesome. I bet Jay Leno has one at his house.

 

Darnit... I have a half tank of fuel and no place to put it. I'm going to have to drive around for a few days to get the tank low enough to drain it.

 

I used my 2.5 gallon gas can to transfer gas back and forth between the Jag and my Expedition, and once I had the gas drained I went to work installing the check-valve. I don't actually think it was necessary to drain the gas, though. I was expecting the gas that I couldn't siphon to come gushing out once I cut into the gas line, but it just kinda dribbled out. I had 5 seconds of gushing, then for the next three hours maybe another few ounces drained out. I think the pump probably restricts the flow of fuel since it isn't pumping gas. Gravity pulls a little gas through, but not much.

Anyway. I got the check-valve installed. Originally I was hoping the 3/8ths inch check-valve would fit the 10mm line, but the line was just a tiny bit too big. I actually tried to make a brake cylinder reamer work in reverse to ream the outside of the fuel line, but that experiment failed miserably. I probably only needed 3 or 4 thousandths of an inch, but the fuel line is in such an awkward location I finally gave up.

Here's a picture of the location where I inserted the check-valve. The blue arrow is pointing to the hard steel line and the red arrow is pointing to the flexible line. This is near the back left wheel. You can see the spring on the bottom right of the picture and the exhaust pipe on the top right. The yellow circle is around a clamp that holds the line in place. More on that later.



This next picture shows the tubing cutter I used to cut the fuel line. The space is really tight, so it requires one of these very small tubing cutters. The red arrow is pointing to the stud where the clamp was holding the tubing to the car. You have to remove that clamp in order to pull the tubing away from the chassis and cut it with the tubing cutter. I paid $4.99 for this one at Ace Hardware. Once the tubing was cut just a little bit of gas gushed out. I was expecting more. This is a really awkward location to be working, so everything has to be done with just one hand.



And the picture below shows the way things looked at the end of the day. I'm not calling this a "finished product" yet because I'm going to make a change once I'm certain that this solved my problem. As I showed in the first picture, there's a piece of flexible tubing that goes from the solid tubing down to the fuel filter. I'm going to remove the two hose clamps on the bottom half of the picture and replace the entire piece of hose from the check-valve to the fuel filter. That will mean that there is one less joint in the system. If I were to do this again I would cut the hard tubing a little closer to the clamp, too. That would mean that my new clamp would be right on top of the check-valve rather than on top of the nut on one end. Oh yeah... speaking of the clamp; the check-valve came with its own clamp. I just used the plastic screw that held the original clamp in place since it fit the stud that's welded to the chassis (red arrow).



I just went and started the car. It's been three hours since I last started it. Normally it would have cranked for 5 to 7 seconds after sitting for that long, but this time is started right up! This might have actually fixed it! I guess I'll know for sure in a day or two.

 

WOOHOO!!! I just started the car and it started up instantly! That's after sitting overnight. I normally would have expected it to crank for an unreasonably long time. Now that I'm sure this fixed it, I'm going to redo the piece of hose from the check-valve to the fuel filter and call this repair completed. I think I'll go ahead and replace the fuel filter, too, as long as I'm working in that area.

 

well, very nice! I was just going to ask if you did your fuel filter already, but question answered!

The clamps I assume are not leaking at the 40 psi or so the fuel lines are at?

 

Good job! I'm glad it worked out for you. It sure makes more sense than changing out a pump.

 

They might have been at first, or it might have just been some residual fuel on the outside of the line. I wasn't sure. But, I decided to crank the clamps down with a wrench rather than just use the screwdriver as I had done originally. After that I didn't notice any fuel on the outside of the line or anywhere near the joints.

Here's something I thought was odd, though; the fuel line leaving the tank is a hard steel line. It makes a couple of bends, then it is attached to a flexible line that goes from the end of the steel piece to the fuel filter. The flexible hose is very thin. I followed the line about 10 times to make sure I was looking at the correct line. I didn't want to mistakenly install the check-valve on a vent line or something. I'm surprised the thin flexible hose from the factory can take the pressure. The new hose I bought actually has kevlar in it and it was very difficult to cut. It's also about twice as big in diameter as the other hose. Also, where the flex hose was attached to the steel line there was no clamp or anything. It was just held on by a friction connection.

 

A fuel return hose (From the Fuel Pressure Regulator back to the Tank) would not have the High Pressure that the Feed Line would have and might only have a Friction Connection???

 

Mine's a 2003. It doesn't have a return line. The return line also wouldn't go through the fuel filter. Trust me, I went over it and over it about ten times before I finally cut into it. I didn't want to cut into the wrong thing. There are no other fuel lines back there, though. Also, if you look at that first picture you can see that the clamp has room for two more lines underneath it. I guess when Jaguar modified the fuel system to eliminate the return line, they didn't bother to create a whole new clamp.

I just started the car AGAIN. It starts instantly every time! That's awesome!

Hey h20boy, you asked me in another thread if I had changed my mind about selling. This was one of the reasons I decided not to sell it a couple of months ago. I knew that the slow starting was just a minor issue, but a potential buyer wouldn't know that, and he/she might be reluctant to buy a car that had to be cranked for 10 seconds before it started (I know I would be reluctant). It would have definitely affected the selling price. I could have "tricked" someone by just starting the car right before they looked at it, but I wasn't going to do that to a potential buyer.

Next I'll get the front end sloppiness fixed, then the car will be as good as new!

 

Thanks Sam for the great information and pictures.
My starter thanks you too!
This will be something for the winter though. I'll let everyone know if I get the same great results.

 

And... to wrap this up, I changed the fuel filter this evening. I'll never do that on this car again. It took about three hours. They put the fuel filter in the most ridiculous location. It's blocked by all sorts of things. I could only get one hand up to it at a time. If I have to pay the dealer $400 to do it next time, it's worth it.

The old filter was full of this nasty black stuff. Check out this video. You can see how filthy it was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6rn9tH6Rt4

 

One thing I would suggest is that if you are going back there, to switch the clamps from the standard type to the fuel injection type that have a solid band with eased edges. These clamps are designed for higher pressure applications than the old caterpillar clamps. I would be nervous using the setup you have for 72 psi over a long period of
time.