when you have a fuel leak, you should know it. dang

airkooledchris · Post by **airkooledchris** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:35 am

driving home from the bakery with the little one and as we are about to pull into the driveway she says "I smell something" and it instantly starts to REEK like gasoline.

like, WOH. Colin and I had discovered a small leak near the #4 injector and tightened up the loose clamp - which stopped it - until now.

This time it seems to have burst right where it touches the clamp, same injector. It was really dumping this time, and as it pooled over my the head it was boiling/sizzling. I wiped up what I could quick and stuck a rag under it to catch the rest as it cools down.

that was my first real fuel leak in a VW and I have to say, if you can smell it, shut it off NOW, because when you can smell it way up front - it's pretty damned bad.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:01 am

airkooledchris wrote:driving home from the bakery with the little one and as we are about to pull into the driveway she says "I smell something" and it instantly starts to REEK like gasoline.

like, WOH. Colin and I had discovered a small leak near the #4 injector and tightened up the loose clamp - which stopped it - until now.

This time it seems to have burst right where it touches the clamp, same injector. It was really dumping this time, and as it pooled over my the head it was boiling/sizzling. I wiped up what I could quick and stuck a rag under it to catch the rest as it cools down.

that was my first real fuel leak in a VW and I have to say, if you can smell it, shut it off NOW, because when you can smell it way up front - it's pretty damned bad.

Were these new hoses not too long ago?
Get thee some modern hose at a German car dealership that knows how to deal with ethanol-laced fuels.
Did we not inspect the overall condition of the hoses when we tightened the clamp that first time?
Do I need to sit on a rock and ponder a more rigorous approach??
Colin

airkooledchris · Post by **airkooledchris** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:51 am

all of the hoses both look brand new and were reported to be brand new when vehicle was purchased from PO 6 weeks ago...

the hose looked good, but the clamp spun in it's location it was so loose when we checked. we tightened it up and ran it for a while and it wasn't leaking at all... ive driven it probably 50-60 miles since then and it's been fine until now...

which of course puts the rest of the hose he used in question, so ill probably park it and spring for a quality kit from germansupply or the like...

maybe I should have glued it in place.

BellePlaine · Post by **BellePlaine** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:48 am

Thanks for the warning. Glad it had a happy ending. Chris, would you please let us know if the hose was the high-pressure kind with the nylon threads within the rubber?

Hippie · Post by **Hippie** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:48 pm

Whew!

airkooledchris · Post by **airkooledchris** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 2:59 pm

ok, so this is weird to me....

there appears to be constant pressure at the fuel rail. I went out finally on my lunch break and it was STILL leaking. BIG puddle under the van now.

I quickly swapped out the fuel injector with another that I had on the shelf because I don't have any FI line in the garage right now.

There shouldn't be pressure at the fuel rail 5 hours after I shut off the vehicle should there?

If you can't tell from the pic, it's leaking where it connects to the injector itself.

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:08 pm

airkooledchris wrote:

There shouldn't be pressure at the fuel rail 5 hours after I shut off the vehicle should there?

There will be if you have a pressure regulator that's in good working order. Overnight, that's another story but there should still be some residual pressure. Helps with those cold starts.

airkooledchris · Post by **airkooledchris** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:55 pm

how much though? enough to just keep pushing pushing pushing fuel out?

I disconnected the injector from the rail and the whole time I was working to put the new one on, it was just a constant drip.

the wet spot under the van was probably 20 inches round, it was a LOT of gas.

when I have pulled an injector on my aircooled vanagon before it seemed to dribble a little right away, then slow and stop completely. maybe it says more about the quality of the pressure regulator in the vanagon Vs the baywindow, but I had no idea there would be so much gas/pressure there that it would just keep pushing it out indefinitely.

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:34 pm

airkooledchris wrote:how much though? enough to just keep pushing pushing pushing fuel out?

Yes, for hours and hours.

Robert Berglund · Post by **Robert Berglund** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:40 pm

Maybe those fuel line clamps should be changed too.Looks as if they might be cutting into the fuel line.
Just a thought.

airkooledchris · Post by **airkooledchris** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:37 pm

done and done. got some really nice German made 7mm ID high pressure FI hose from the FLAPS and replaced the clamps with some Swedish ABA clips I had stored away for such an occasion.

fired it up, extinguisher nearby, and checked and rechecked and were gold again.

thanks for the replies, I really was in the dark when it came to how much gas it could push out after running a while. the pressure regulator in my Vanagon must be on it's way out, because it'll just dribble a little bit if I remove an injector - it won't completely soak 3 rags all the way through if left disconnected.

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

when you have a fuel leak, you should know it. dang

when you have a fuel leak, you should know it. dang

Re: when you have a fuel leak, you should know it. dang