Gas leak! - not quite an emergency

[agzaretzka]

Frustrated: wanted to go fishing this morning, but my sister needed me to feed her animals this morning first, as they got stuck out of town last night. When I got to her place, only a couple of miles away, I smelled gas! Since the wind was up a little, I hoped for a second it was from somewhere else, but no, it was under my hood. There was a small puddle on the lower intake near the passenger side middle injector/below the pressure test port.

It had dried up by the time I finished, and when I started it back up, NO signs of a leak. Drove back home and still no signs of a leak. Been poking around for a while, but cannot find anything wrong.

I don't have a fuel pressure test guage, but fuel comes out of the test port no matter how long I let it sit. Pulled the vacuum line on the regulator, and that was dry. No signs of a leak when twisting the injectors slightly.

Performance was not affected in any noticable fashion during those few miles.

Any ideas people? should I just drive it until there are signs(smells) again?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[cjbarron5]

fpr?????? pull the vac line and see if its got fuel running out of it thats the only thing i can think of

 

[agzaretzka]

Did that (third paragraph/second sentence above). Aarrgghhh!

 

[cjbarron5]

oopps sorry

 

[boominXplorer]

carry a fire extiguisher!

 

[agzaretzka]

carry a fire extiguisher!

Much rather find the problem and fix it!

 

[AspenX]

Mine occasionally leaked at the end of the braided fuel line. Where the line makes a 90 and goes down into a black plastic thingy that connects it to a brass colored thing on top of the motor. Twisting the plastic coupler would stop the leak. I replaced it twice and the problem never went away, till now. Last week it caught fire and burnt up the whole truck, and my fire ext. wasnt enough to stop it. truck totaled But its no big deal insurance will buy you a new one.

 

[agzaretzka]

Mine occasionally leaked at the end of the braided fuel line. Where the line makes a 90 and goes down into a black plastic thingy that connects it to a brass colored thing on top of the motor. Twisting the plastic coupler would stop the leak. I replaced it twice and the problem never went away, till now.

I fiddled with that and the injectors some more, and nothing; hasn't leaked again all day. I really don't want to disassembly all that to track this down, but I do want it fixed.

Last week it caught fire and burnt up the whole truck, and my fire ext. wasnt enough to stop it. truck totaled But its no big deal insurance will buy you a new one.

I am very sorry to hear that, and I really want to prevent that from happening to me!

Correction to first post: pressure is lost while off over time. Since smell/leak occured while driving, I don't think that is a factor.

Any other advise?

 

[MrShorty]

Could it have been the Schrader valve (aka test port) that leaked?

 

[agzaretzka]

Could it have been the Schrader valve (aka test port) that leaked?

That's the theory I'm starting with. With my mediocre logic skills, I'm thinking with the check valve not holding pressure, as the pressure approaches zero, the worn Schrader valve allowed some fuel to dribble out. How's that sound to everyone else? I have NO evidence, no repeat as of yet.

My local Ford did not have these in stock. Anyone know if these are the same used in tires? or need special materials to handle the fuel?

Thanks again - I'm out to replace the brakes today.

 

[agzaretzka]

Hmm, don't know what I was thinknig when I wrote that, as the leak happened while driving, i.e. under pressure. . . . unless . . . it happed while sitting the night before, and I did'nt notice any smell until the engine had warmed up. Plausible?

 

[agzaretzka]

Could it have been the Schrader valve (aka test port) that leaked?

Ford got it in this morning ($9.87 + tax), and I installed it this evening.

Hopefully that was it, but I have no confidence in that being the fix, as I never witnessed the leak, and it never repeated (yet)!

I'll be checking often (and I did buy a fire extinguisher)!

 

[agzaretzka]

Update & question

Saturday night, leaving work, I smelled gas again. This time I left the engine running and checked under the hood, and there was the leak; the same as AspenX had! Wiggling the connection slowed it down and I drove straight home without incident. Parts stores were of no help and Ford only offered a complete fuel line assembly ($230), when all I needed was a new o-ring in the connector. Dug around the local hardware stores and found o-rings to fit the connector (tho oringal had a more square cross-section) (also replaced the rings on the other end of that hose and on the FPR going into the fuel rail). The tubing on the FPR that the hose connected to seemed more scratched up then I could of done taking it apart, so I smoothed it with come fine sand paper before re-assembly. Initial test in the driveway looks good.

New question: Are regular o-rings safe for gasoline? OR I will I be needing to replace these again real soon? If so, does anyone have a source for these gasoline safe o-rings?

Thanks again!

Mine occasionally leaked at the end of the braided fuel line. Where the line makes a 90 and goes down into a black plastic thingy that connects it to a brass colored thing on top of the motor. Twisting the plastic coupler would stop the leak...

 

[agzaretzka]

New question: Are regular o-rings safe for gasoline? OR I will I be needing to replace these again real soon? If so, does anyone have a source for these gasoline safe o-rings?

Anybody know? I don't want to worry without a reason to worry!