Well this has just been a jolly holiday season haha. I managed to crack my oil pan earlier this week, which I've taken care of for the time being til I can get a new one ordered, and then earlier today I took off the plastic covers while talking about cars with my brother in law to show him some of the finer workings of German engineering (he's a Ford guy) and then I started it so he could hear my exhaust drone and such and shortly after I started it, I could hear a pst pst pst pst sound so I held my ear closer to the engine and something wet caught my eye, so I turned my attention to that and discovered that one of my fuel injectors was soaked with fuel, freshly deposited obviously, since fuel evaporates pretty quickly.

I couldn't see it sputtering out anywhere with the pst pst pst sound I could hear so maybe that sound was related, maybe it wasnt. So I hurried and shut off the engine, just in case, and then looked at the rest of the injectors and three of them were moist with fuel! 1,3 and 5 have somehow sprung a leak it seems and I'm not sure what to think about it or how to go about fixing it. Might it just be bad washers or something? Maybe its temperature related? When the engine is cold, the seals on the injectors shrink and let fuel out a little and then as the engine warms up, the seals warm up and dont leak anymore? Its not dripping down off the fuel rail itself, it looks like its coming from right where the injector meets the valve cover so thats why I think it might be a washer/seal thing.

As far as I can tell, performance has not been affected. Even as it idled before I noticed the leaks and sound I mentioned, it idled smoothly, no stutters or misfires. If its something that's been going on for a while, I haven't noticed any lags in acceleration or drops in power, and since its winter, its hard to make a solid judgment on if its affecting fuel economy at all (I would imagine it is, since there is fuel not making it into the engine) because winter destroys my mileage as it is so I'm not sure if I should be really concerned or if its something I can back-burner for a little bit...

Any thoughts? All suggestions are welcome, thanks folks

Sounds like injector o-rings. They're what seal and secure the injectors in the rails. Change all six at the same time and make sure to relieve fuel pressure before starting to avoid a bath.

It's not a bad job really - just be gentle with the injectors so you don't break them and you'll be fine.

Sweet, thanks bro. I just checked ECS for these o-rings, didn't have much luck, is it just a commonplace item I could pick up at Autozone or something?

Couple other questions in this case:
>How do I go about relieving the pressure?
>What is the procedure for removing the injectors?
---Do the rails have to come off?
---Any special tools required?
---Is this covered anywhere in the manual linked in the stickies?

I've never dealt with fuel delivery systems on engines before (really, I haven't dealt with engines much in general, part of why I'm to this day pretty nervous about doing the tbelt myself) so any pointers and or pictures/diagrams would be much appreciated

RockAuto.com has them. Not sure about Autozone.

you wont get a bath in gas, just some leakage.
I don't know about the 6's but the 1.8t is simple. heres the diy http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng94.shtml

Good to know that a gas bath isn't gonna happen. I wasn't sure so I mentioned it just in case. Just pop the gas cap to purge pressure and put it back on. RockAuto or a dealer are the easiest places to get them and it's as teetertawter said - straightforward swap. Any rubber fuel lines you encounter won't hurt to replace just because - might as well do them if you can.

oh, and do you best at not dropping anything down those holes.
keep a fire extinguisher (sp?) close by for safety.
the worst part are the clips that hold the injectors on. as they fly in every direction if you are not carefull. 1 of mine ended up behind the lathe.

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys, glad to know this really isn't that trying of a task. Teeter: That DIY was very useful, I looked through it and I can't see anything that looks like it'll be too different for the V6. The main information is what is most useful, small things like the bolts that hold the rails on is easily reinterpreted to suit what I need. Thanks for the heads up on the clips, I'll try to think of a simple method to make them not fly off, at least very far. I'll swing by the stealership monday and see how much they want for a set, for the amount of (in the words of the article) weeping of those three injectors, I'd prefer to not put this off any longer than necessary and since I'm out of school right now, what better time to get it done? Maybe when I do it I'll take pictures as I go to build a V6 DIY article to join the one for the 1.8t. Even though the info will be more or less the same, the visual aids are what is most important to some people when doing something like this.

when you get your injector O-rings, get 12, 1 for the top and 1 for the bottom. they are real cheap, beer is the pricey part of the job. i would recommend hitting up the dealer for them. they will have them in stock.

Not too familiar with the v6, but heres my 2 cents. First check to see if the rail is tightly bolted down because this keeps the injectors seated tight. It seems funny that multiple o-rings would go bad at the same time. Then when doing this, be very careful not to break the injector bungs which are made of plastic and become very brittle over time. You might want to just order some new ones anyway, cuz they are likely going to break. They are very large size hex if i remember correctly. This is all from a 1.8t, but i doubt they are too different. Hope it helps.

someone mentioned a fire extinguisher, this might be a good idea. I was spraying fuel due to my rail not being tight enough, so i fixed it and started the car up. But i was running open downpipe and shot some flames, which ignited my puddle of fuel. My sister starts yelling that my car was on fire... LOL luckily it went out quick... we live and we learn i guess