Fuel Injector question

[mikehawk]

I just recently bought a 91 explorer 4x4 with about eleventy billion miles on the 4.0 ohv. Anyway, when I popped the hood I saw that the valve covers had nasty leaks (stupid cork gaskets...), and there were puddles of sludge all over the lower intake manifold, so I decided to replace all the manifold and valve covers gaskets, and I figured I'd replace the injector o-rings while I was at it. When I pulled the fuel rail off of the LIM, a couple of these rubber "sleeves" (for lack of a better description) fell off of a couple of the injectors. They fit over the lower half of the injectors, and they were only on the injectors for cylinders 1,4,3, and 6. What are they? Are they a big deal? Can I get by without replacing them? If not, where can I get replacements?

I have a couple pics of what I'm talking about hosted here:

http://www.supermotors.org/vehicles/registry/detail.php?id=11782

Thanks.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I looked at those pictures. They are either a spacer, a gasket, or probably both. As crazy as it may sound, you could get this type of seal in a plumbing store! I can't determine its exact size from that picture, but I think they have seals that are deep like this one.

 

[mikehawk]

Well, I started flipping through the old haynes manual this morning, and I found a pic that's making me feel better. On page 4-17, in the picture 15.5b, there is a diagram of an injector in view B. There is an arrow pointing to the rubber thing I was talking about and it's calling it a noise insulator. So, I'm guessing I don't need to replace them.

 

[tawd77]

ttt