[s-cars] Fuel Line Leak - The Resolution

[manuel]

Listers,

As you may recall (hah!) I had a fuel leak in the engine bay. I had the fuel line recall done back in July and that this repair had failed. So I brought it back to that dealer. Turns out the service writer was telling me one thing and the tech was telling me something else.  Here is a small sampling

Chapter 1
Service Writer: We replaced the leaking line under the recall. But when we fixed that another leak developed near the fuel rail, and that line is not covered under the recall. 
Me: It wasn't leaking (at this new location) when I brought it to you. Did the tech over tighten something?
Service Writer: There's no way we can prove that (like how he said we, instead of you). What probably happened is that after we repaired the first leak, the fuel rail is now seeing full pressure that it wasn't seeing before and thats when this new leak cropped up. The part thats leaking is just past the part that was involved in the recall (literally, its at the fitting joint). We can't repair just the hose, you have to get an entire Fuel Rail. That will be $750.

Chapter 2 - Visit Miss Piggy
The tech takes me out to the lot to take a look at my car. He seems like a reasonable guy, older, balding, makes me think he's been around the block a few times and makes me feel at ease. We are talking about the possibilities of how it broke and how to fix it when he says that he didn't find the leak where I had reported it, but rather at the opposite end of the line in question. When I tell him I saw, smelled and touched the leak near the firewall he responded that it was probably squirting from where he says its leaking and ricocheted off the hose, traveling its entire length, hugging a bend in the hose, and then deposited the stream at the fitting that I saw "leaking".  Ok, its at this point that I think the guy is nuts. He goes on to say the dealership can't take on the liability of any repair short of replacement with a factory fuel rail.  I ask him if I can just replace the crimped fitting with a hose clamp, he says that for a carbureted car that might be ok, but for the pressure seen in fuel injected cars he wouldn't recommend it (Note to self, my BMW has clamps on its fuel lines). To his credit, he does say, if it were his car he would try to fix the line instead of replacing the entire rail. This is when I decide its time to get Miss Piggy out of Dodge and over to my regular trustworthy independent mechanic. Oh, and contrary to what the service writer said, the tech says he didn't replace anything yet.

Chapter 3 - Looking for Hydraulic Line Repair and "If it were my car I'd......."
I get the rail and hoses separated from my car to begin the quest for hydraulic repair of the crimped fittings. I visit a total of 6 companies that do repairs for heavy construction equipment hydraulic lines.  Some of which I could tell just didn't want to deal with it, even though the shop is filled with nothing but fittings and hoses, aisle upon aisle, wall to wall. I can't tell you how many guys said " I can't help you" then something about liability, then "But if it were my car I'd do this....". By this time I start to figure that all the time I've lost at work chasing this down, I am quickly approaching the cost of the dealer part.

Chapter 4 - My trusty regular mechanic
Sanity sets in. He says why don't we just cut off the crimp fitting and see what you've got. We do it. What lines under the crimp fitting is a barbed end with ridges on the end of the hard line. Perfect for a 25 cent hose clamp.  I do both ends, just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating when I held the leaking fitting in my hand, so that comes out to about 50 cents in parts. Hmmmmmmm.

-manny
95.5 S6 Avant