Date:         Mon, 2 Aug 2004 19:40:17 -0400
Reply-To:     Angus Gordon <agordon@BRIGHT.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Angus Gordon <agordon@BRIGHT.NET>
Subject:      A strange fuel leak story
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Sorry to hear about your burnt bus Mark, here's a strange story of a Carat
that didn't burn (yet).

Early one morning last week as I was pulling my bicycle out of the garage
to head to work, I happened to give the obligatory Vanagon owner's
duck-and-glance-under-the-back-end to check for fluids. Sure enough there
was a small puddle of coolant which looked as if it might have come out of
the thermostat housing area. So I went back inside and left a note for my
wife, telling her to avoid driving the Carat.

Two days later, at home with some time to work on it, I first looked
carefully but couldn't identify the source of the leak. So next I started
the engine, to see if I could find it   that way. When I walked back around
to the rear of the Carat I was amazed to see not coolant, but a steady drip
of fuel from the left side fuel rail area. I ran around to shut the engine off.

Now the strangeness - the puddle underneath was coolant. After removing the
entire left side fuel supply (including injectors) without disturbing any
connections, I pressurized it - it didn't leak. I put it back on the engine
and started it - it didn't leak. Checked all the clamps - they were tight.
Warmed up the engine - no leaks of fuel or coolant.

This Carat is my wife's daily-driver/kid-hauler, thus I try to keep it safe
and reliable. I had last changed the fuel lines and clamps about three
years ago.

So... I changed all the lines and the plastic fuel distributor on that side
again (though I can't see any signs of cracks etc.). No leaks of any kind
since.

I hate to think of what might have happened if I hadn't seen the (now
non-existent) coolant leak!


Angus