'96 850t fuel dampener stuck slow start and power loss

[tardcart]

When I had the fuel rail off to get at the intake bolts, on a whim I took off the fuel damper as the limys call it. here it is called a regulator by most. I blamed my long cranking and slight loss of power on the usual suspect, a weak fuel pump and bad check valve. I blew into the rail side of the regulator and could blow through it, not full bore but plenty. I went to order a new Bosch 9146761 3 bar regulator and they are NLA. A couple of online dealerships seemed to have one but wanted 225. just a few years ago they were less than 100. Standard parts makes one for 100 but who wants that. for the heck of it I blew through it with compressed air and it popped open and then snapped closed properly. something may have blown out. all this time it was never closing and I was operating on less than three bars of pressure. Now the car starts much quicker (not immediately but I dont think any 850s do) and has more power. Pretty amazing the cpu can learn to operate fine at reduced pressure. This may be a one-off thing, but worth a thought. also if you see a regulator better grab it. more and more things will be NLA on these cars that are critical.