Author Topic: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?  (Read 30479 times)

Offline Trion

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Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« on: February 21, 2011, 10:49:36 AM »
I have a small fuel leak i my car. It is so small that there is no puddle, but it leaves a distinct smell in the car. It is pressure dependent, it does only smell a while after the fuel system has been pressurized. How can I easily find the leak?

I was tipped off about this system, but it is a bit pricy to me:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Professional-UV-Leak-Detection-Kit-MSC53351-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem519323e5ceQQitemZ350360954318QQptZMotorsQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools

Any other suggestion that won´t damage my injectors or clog my fuel filter? :scratch:

Offline Ned Ludd

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2011, 04:45:27 PM »
Hi Trion,
This might not help but, I had a petrol leak on an old car a few years ago and I only found out about it by the icicle that hung from the fuel pipe. Must have been just the right time of year for there to be enough moisture in the air for the evaporating fuel to form condensation and then freeze it.
Ned
I know enough to do what I do, but the more I know the more I can do!

Leafy suburbs of NW London

Offline Yorkshireman

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2011, 06:00:45 PM »
Hi Trion
Maybe you could use this:
http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/produktdb.nsf/id/e_1809.html
The alternative could be a homemade foam from whipped egg whites (meringue)...
Johannes


Offline AdeV

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2011, 06:20:32 PM »
IMHO, your best detector will be your nose..... it's already diagnosed that there's a leak, now all you have to do is find it. The thing is, there's only 3 places it's likely to be:

1) In the engine compartment, most likely where the fuel hose is linked to the injector system. As soon as you notice the smell in the car, you should stop (if still driving), pop the bonnet, and see if you can detect the smell in the engine compartment. If yes; then the leak is here somewhere; further diagnosis can be carried out once the engine has cooled (use a 12v battery to power up the fuel pump, and just go hunting for the leak).

2) In the fuel lines between tank & engine; this will be the most difficult one to spot, but IMHO if you suspect dodgy fuel lines, you should replace them anyway. It's not massively expensive if you do it yourself, just difficult and annoying (depending on what car it is).

3) Around the tank; as you say it only occurs when the system is pressurised, I'd say the tank is probably not what's leaking; but there may be a problem around the return pipe or fuel pumps - which may or may not be in the tank, depends on the car.

My gut feel is that it's a fuel line, but without knowing the car, its age, and how rusty it is (or isn't) underneath, it's just that: gut feel...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline Trion

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2011, 02:23:49 AM »
Thanks for the many replies!  :thumbup:

Nedd Ludd: I'll see if I can find some icing on the pipes, should be the right time of the year ::)

Yorkshireman: The Liqui Moly stuff seems to be intended only for gas systems like pneumatics. Whipped egg whites does not sound like anything I'd like to have in my fuel injectors and fuel cell foam.

AdeV: I can manually run the fuel system, so no need to drive the car. I have done this and sniffed around, and I'm quite sure that the leak is coming from the trunk. I have a fuel cell in the trunk, and believe the leak is coming from one of the lines laying below it. There are quite a few connections there so I'd like to be sure that I'm going to find the leak whenever I remove the fuelcell. The entire fuel system is made up of 8-an fittings and pipes only a couple of years old.

Offline crabsign69

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2011, 01:16:16 PM »
hahaha reminds me of the fuel leak i had one time could not find out where it was coming from a friend came by lit a match. guess what i did not need to fix it no more
burnt to the ground  hahaha. he did that to my bike too we could not tell how much gas was in the tank so he lit a match  hahaa had a fire out the top of the tank
save the bike on that one just put a hat on top of it to kill the flame. it was pretty cool to see. but now friend is dead and gone. no more fires.
it was always exciting when he was around  hahaha kept u on your toes. :headbang:  miss my buddy :loco:

Offline picclock

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Re: Cheap way to find a small fuel leak?
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2011, 07:35:37 PM »
Don't know if this will help, but using a small diameter - say 1/4" - tubing and waving it around / poking it into the likely places whilst sniffing may help to locate the leak.

Too much sniffing and they'll probably arrest you though  :bugeye: (and it will give you one hell of a headache  :hammer:)

It might be possible to get a dye that you can put in the tank which will leave a witness mark where the leak(s) is.

Good luck, they can be really hard to find. If its an old fuel injection system it may well be leaking from more than one place.

Best Regards

picclock

Engaged in the art of turning large pieces of useful material into ever smaller pieces of (s)crap. (Ferndown, Dorset)