Not to negate anyone else's explanation, here is mine: The accumulator has 3 connections. Two of them take threaded fittings and the other is a hose barb. The threaded ports are connected together, i.e., they go to the same place. They could have made it just as well with one port and used an external T-fitting, but the way they did it requires less parts. The way the accumulator works is very similar to a bladder tank on a household well system or lawn sprinkler system. If you understand these then enough said, if not then forget I mentioned it. :-) I enjoy parables as does God in the bible, so I'll use one here to preach Bosch righteousness. Picture the accumulator as being a balloon on the side of a T-fitting tapped into the fuel supply line. As the fuel line reaches maximum pressure when you start the car from cold, the balloon inflates. If the fuel pressure fluctuates for any reason, the balloon expands or contracts to help regulate the pressure. In the case of a real accumulator, the balloon is a diaphragm with a spring behind it. If the diaphragm develops a leak, then it is plumbed back to the fuel tank via the low pressure return line. That is what the hose barb on the other end is for. When the accumulator is working properly, the spring & bladder maintains the fuel pressure in the system. This is especially important when the engine is hot and not running. The place where fuel enters the engine is hot enough to boil the fuel if it were at atmospheric pressure. By keeping it under pressure, this stops the fuel from boiling. Remember Boyle's Law from high school physics? If it did boil, there would be fuel vapor bubbles in the engine. And the fuel injectors are made to take liquid fuel -- not vapor. This is where the hot start problems come from. Cool eh? Walt ----- Original Message ----- From: "id" <ionicdesign@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <DMCForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 10:14 AM Subject: [DMCForum] fuel system question > i have a stupid question and i should know this but what does a Fuel > Accumulator do exactly? > > mark > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> New Yahoo! Mail Plus. More flexibility. More control. More power. Get POP access, more storage, more filters, and more. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Hcb0iA/P.iFAA/46VHAA/HliolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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