Author Topic: Fuel leaking -NOT HOSES LOOKS LIKE RAIL? (Read 3462 times)

anisotropy · « **on:** May 18, 2007, 06:01:51 PM »

Would really love some help here:
Drove my e30 about 60 miles today, went into the city to pick up a friend and got stuck in horrible traffic for a half hour or so. After that he car felt a bit sluggish. Parked up at home and about three hours later leaving for work reversed a bit and looked at the ground which my car had previously occupied -as is my habit;) there was a suspicious colourful sheen to the ground -(I'm in Northern Ireland the whole place is constantly wet) so I popped open the bonnet and there was petrol pi$$ing all down the pipes that go up to the fuel rail under the intake manifold, I mean pi$$ing -a bit of a shock. I guess my questions are: I suspect this is one of those two bits of hose that are under there - #15 here http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AF92&mospid=47256&btnr=13_0308&hg=13&fg=15
any ideas on that?
I'm planning to take off the manifold on Monday and change them, any advice on this -pitfalls etc??
anything else I should take the oppurtunity to do while its off??
Cheers

ak96ss · « **Reply #1 on:** May 18, 2007, 06:52:36 PM »

I had the exact same experience - keep an eye on it, it drips down on the live feed to the starter!

You'll need to replace both those sections of hose, which will require removing the upper intake manifold to get to.

AND, you can presume that since that hose is more than likely dry-rotted enough to have sprung a leak, you should seriously consider replacing all the rest of the fuel line as well. The part that leads from the tank to the filter is a particular PITA - I ended up having to drop the tank to get to it.

If I were you, and this is what I did, I would replace all of the rubber lines under there while you are at it. If you lived in a warmer clime, this would be a good opportunity to delete the throttle body plate heater, but I would consider this a tad bit risky if it gets cold there, as icing could be an issue. There are heater hoses under there, a plastic heater tube, good time to have your injectors rebuilt, vacuum line to the FPR... lots of stuff under there!

D. Clay · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2007, 01:59:35 AM »

I have a line at the tank that needs replaced and now apparently should also replace the ones mentioned above. Is the line from the fuel pump to the fuel filter in front of the left rear wheel all rubber? From the realoem drawing it looks like it could be part metal. It's hard to tell.

ak96ss · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2007, 05:52:45 AM »

IIRC, it is not - there is a section of metal in there, which is what required me to drop the tank, as the junction between metal and rubber was conveniently positioned so that I was unable to reach the hose clamp from either the access plate under the seat or below without dropping the tank down.

Take a look - there is an access plate to the top of the fuel tank on each side of the back seat.

anisotropy · « **Reply #4 on:** May 19, 2007, 01:52:30 PM »

Thanks for reply, will have a good look when I get manifold off on Monday, ice shouldn't really be a problem here in rainy NI, its mild really so may look at getting rid of heater plate but it might be beyond me. I had a good look at as much of the lines as I can see, and they seem surprisingly good, all the hoses under the bonnet I can get at look fresh -its sort of strange, the engine was replaced with a bmw reconditioned one 30-40 k miles ago so you'd think they would've changed these hoses. Anyway, will find out in a coupla days. Thanks

anisotropy · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2007, 01:11:20 PM »

So replaced those two bits of hose today and replaced vacuum line to fpr. But, heres the shitter -the old ones look fine, the leak must be elsewhere, the front (nearest the fan) of the fuel rail looks suspicious -a little more corroded and dirty than the rest. Exciting picture included. I think a leak here would probably travel along the rail and come out along the metal inlet pipe where I saw petrol pi$$ing out. Anyone know could this be a bad injector or is there a part of the rail that's liable to leak?
Thanks

[http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/561/bloodypetrolleakzi7.jpg

anisotropy · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2007, 01:14:29 PM »

Sorry about the tiny picture will sort it out later

D. Clay · « **Reply #7 on:** May 22, 2007, 11:28:45 AM »

If you turn the key to the "on" position, the fuel pump will run until the lines are pressurized. My car runs for just a few seconds if it's been sitting for a while. This way you can check for leaks with the system pressurized without having to put all that stuff back on and actually start the motor.

anisotropy · « **Reply #8 on:** May 22, 2007, 12:02:56 PM »

Cheers for the tip, spent half the day trying to get rail and injectors off. won't budge, used two jimmies one on each side of rail, no luck, anyone have any ideas on this I'm stumped.

anisotropy · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2007, 12:42:10 PM »

Got em off at last, my girlfriend helped

:

anisotropy · « **Reply #10 on:** May 28, 2007, 12:13:43 PM »

okay so it was the fuel rail - when I got it off i could see rust around all the cups and on the metal parts of the injectors, the first injector (nearest the fpr) was worst and rust got less as you moved away from this area. I'm guessing that the rail (which has about 200k on in) developed a weakness, a pinprick and vapour got out making this tiny hole worse and worse and corroding the weakest areas around it till it eventually started actually leaking. So got injectors cleaned, got a new fuel rail coming -should be great, am hoping it will idle bang on 800 now -it was always a little low before. Anyone ever had a rail fail on them before??:confused: