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Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 09:25 AM

Folks,

Went out to a recently restarted 914 this am to grab some tools and noticed a wet spot under the car -- passenger side. Big wet spot. I'm thinking hmm I don't recall any rain--hmm--what's that smell??? It's gas of course.

So I'm about to go look closer -- is there an easy way to pinch off or plug the incoming gas line while I sort out the real leak?

tia

kim.

Posted by: madd_dogg_914 May 15 2003, 09:42 AM

What year car? If it is an earlier (i.e. the fuel pump is back by the engine) THen you might have noithing more than a loose hose clamp on your pump. Best thing to do is don't start the car. If you have someone there to help you, put on some glasses and have your helper turn the key to on (this will run the fuel pump for a second). While they do that you look to see if there is gas coming from the fuel pump. If so try tightening up the lines/clamps. If not you will have to do more digging.
Side note: to see the fuel pump clearly it is recommended that you rtemove the flexible heater hose connecting your heat exchangers to the body on the passanger side.

Good Luck

-Chris

Posted by: L8Apex May 15 2003, 09:42 AM

golf tee's. that's what I used, and it really does work. Unless you don't play golf, err..... I don't know, hehe.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 09:45 AM

Terrance,

Thx. It's a 70. Golf tee's will stick enough? Cool. Those I have!

Love having a busy moring hijacked....

kim.

Posted by: madd_dogg_914 May 15 2003, 09:45 AM

While your digging in there it aint a bad idea to just replace all of the lines with new ones from your local FLAPS, the only one that is special is the one to the fuel filter (which might also be the one leaking) it starts I think at 9mm and tapers to 7mm, so that one you gotta buy from the good folks here at Pelican. Also get a fuel filter if you haven't in a while and just give the whole area a once over.

-Chris

Posted by: Jeffs9146 May 15 2003, 09:53 AM

<_<

Senior Moment???

That happened to me and it was the fuel line that attached to the bottem of the gas tank.

Jeff

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 15 2003, 09:59 AM

Okay.. stupid question time.

Did you recently top off the tank (I mean REALLY top it off) and park on an incline?

-Rusty

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 10:13 AM

Are you really Karnak? That is exactly what I've done.

(i.e. filled up on Sat, and parked on the incline driveway to wash it)

kim.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 10:14 AM

oh, it's a /6 if that matters.

kim.

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 15 2003, 10:18 AM

It happened to me recently. Topped it up to the very top, wiggled it, and squirted in a few more drops of gas to really fill up. Drove it the 3 blocks home, parked on an incline... and in the morning I thought I was driving a molotov cocktail on wheels.

I dont top it off anymore.

-Rusty

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 10:24 AM

Hm. I don't top off. But each gas station has different pump handles and who really knows where the quit filling? This time, I filled up at a station I don't normally use, so it could have been a higher top off. (making this up of course)

So what is actually happening tho? The tank is way up at the front. The leak is way at the back. If the tank is overfull, wouldn't it drain off somewhere up front?

I've been assuming that, since mr yellow hasn't been out recently, that the wake up knocked some old crappy line or something and it decided now was the time to smell up my neighborhood. (I'm loved, of course :-)

kim.

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 15 2003, 10:33 AM

Is the leak coming from one of the carbs? Can you tell?

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 10:44 AM

Oooo, I love this. Popped the air cleaner off -- carbs are wet on the sides.

kim.

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 15 2003, 10:54 AM

So.. that tells me:

Fuel tank up high; Carbs lower; Gravity pushing fuel from tank to carbs.

Are the float bowls overfilling and spilling fuel over somewhere?

What kind of fuel pump are you using? Stock or aftermarket?

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 11:07 AM

Got it.

If I siphon out some fuel, it should stop then.

re: fuel pump -- dunno. Never looked at it yet.

kim.

Posted by: Carl May 15 2003, 11:08 AM

Lawrence & Kim,
It seems to me that the float valves should have stopped the flow unless there's a leak in the line, a stuck float valve (BTDT) or a passage that allowed gas to escape from the carb.

C

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 11:14 AM

Hm. If I actually look at it, there is definitely fuel from the float. But I"m not sure there is enough to be causing what I see on the bottom.

So I'll put it on stands and look at the bottom a bit more. If it's sneaking down from the carbs, I should be able to see that from underneath.

More as I dig.

Thx for the assist! (I love this bbs)



kim.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 11:17 AM

Well, it's of course possible that the gas on the carbs (a new thing, but with the stock air cleaner on, not visible instantly) could be a separate problem. That would mean that I have two problems. Hm. Better and better!

Thx Carl.

Posted by: Gint May 15 2003, 11:42 AM

I assume you looked good and hard at the line between the banjo fittings?

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 15 2003, 12:01 PM

Kim,

Have you had the carbs apart recently?

-Rusty

Posted by: L8Apex May 15 2003, 12:22 PM

don't try to siphon with your mouth! (trust me on this)

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 12:29 PM

Re: hard line: yep.
Re: Carbs apart? nope.
Re: shiphoning gas -- grew up in farming country. Know how to do it now -- but it's a learned experience.

It's on stands now. I'll know soon enough...

kim.

Posted by: need4speed May 15 2003, 12:42 PM

I've heard tales with Type 1 VW's parked on sharp inclines, where the carbs will leak gas if the float valve is sticky, and the gas would go into the engine with those Solexes. Fill up the cylinders, crank case. Some guy claims he had a muffler full of gasoline.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 01:27 PM

Lunch time update. (love the fumes)

Heater hose off. Definitely leaking at the pump. I haven't managed stick my head in there. But by feel with a cloth to dry it, the leak is most prominant in the area around the plug wire. Now, the plug is pointing down, so any leak will end up running down there. But the top portion of the pump stay dry after being wiped. As do the hose ends -- tho the bottom one (the return line I believe) is hard to tell. (do the pumps have a normal or common kind of leak when they fail?)

Now, how much maneuvering room do the hard lines give? That is, if I could manage to undo the pump mounting nuts, will the unit swing down? (as you can guess, there's not much room under there)

Time for a bite. I'll catch up before I head out again.

kim.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 02:03 PM

Mirrors! >

Grabbed a spare 914 mirror, and looked inside. The lines are all dry. The leak seems to be at a seal line just above the plug entry. Time to get it out of there!

Is this gonna be hard to find?

kim.

Posted by: krk May 15 2003, 02:03 PM

always leave space in...

kim.

Posted by: rhodyguy May 16 2003, 07:11 AM

for heavens sake. just let the gas pump stop on it's own instead of trying to top off, do you really need that quart of gas that's is partialy going to go out the overflow tube? these cars have 2 neat devices. a GAUGE that slows if you might want to think about buying some fuel and a little LIGHT thats tells you you may have waited too long. i think the ealy 365's had some issue with parking on an incline and gravity pushing the fuel also.

kevin

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 May 16 2003, 09:01 AM

I need that extra quart of gas. When it overflows and spills out, it keeps everything below it nice and clean.

-Rusty