New WTF, Gas leak

[ritztoys]

Last drive I had a 'no start' situation(checking all those items first that cause this problem) which turned out to be a bad Inertia switch, replaced it and all is fine.

Now I usually test start and run my car every two weeks(when sitting for any length of time), just to be sure the otterstat and fans along with other systems work as they should.

Today while letting my car warm up, noticed a gas smell(engine was running) I checked gauges for gas, needle was pegged on empty, looked under car and saw gas dripping pretty good at rear of gas tank near fuel accumulator area. Shut off engine before the motor stopped from lack of gas! (which it didn't)

IIRC there are two flexible fuel lines in this area, I'm guessing one of these hoses reached it's expected life span and burst or cracked. At this point I don't know if it was a pressure line or a return line. I suspect it to be a return line as the engine was still running?

I checked area around fuel pump(access inside trunk) and didn't find any 'wet' fuel lines there. Tomorrow I'll put the car on jacks and get under to see where the failure is, any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome to help me track down issue.....

[Bitsyncmaster]

If it was a high pressure line you would get gas flying everywhere. I bet your accumulator has failed.

[Parzival]

Until you look up inside the little cubby where the accumulator is there's not much to say.
I will tell you that the lines going to my fuel accumulator where so bad that they just broke off when being replaced. If they are original, they are not to be trusted! That's likely your issue.

[ritztoys]

If it was a high pressure line you would get gas flying everywhere. I bet your accumulator has failed.

Isn't this device a sealed unit? I myself would suspect bad lines until I can see in 'there'.

[ritztoys]

Until you look up inside the little cubby where the accumulator is there's not much to say.
I will tell you that the lines going to my fuel accumulator where so bad that they just broke off when being replaced. If they are original, they are not to be trusted! That's likely your issue.

I'm inclined to agree with you, the accumulator was replaced many years ago due to "hot start issue", although I didn't replace any flex lines due to bad area to work in.....

[Parzival]

I'm inclined to agree with you, the accumulator was replaced many years ago due to "hot start issue", although I didn't replace any flex lines due to bad area to work in.....

Sounds about right, but like I said, until you look you don't know
Roll up them sleeves

[bfloyd]

Might be as simple as a hose on the accumulator coming off the barbed fitting. Happened to me last summer. I had taken the car out to a cub scout camp for a show-n-tell day and when leaving the camp I had one of the hoses on the accumulator get blown off the barbed fitting. Didn't know it at the time, as all I could see was gasoline pouring out from under the bottom of the car. Took the ride of shame home on a flatbed tow truck. Got it in the garage and jacked up on stands. All it was was one of the rubber hoses got blown off the barbed fitting. These hoses were new in 2015, but were kinda "slimey" inside. Ended up cutting the end of the hose off to good clean rubber and put it all back together and tightened it up. Cost nothing to fix except the ride home.

Hopefully yours will be just as simple.

[ritztoys]

Might be as simple as a hose on the accumulator coming off the barbed fitting. Happened to me last summer. I had taken the car out to a cub scout camp for a show-n-tell day and when leaving the camp I had one of the hoses on the accumulator get blown off the barbed fitting. Didn't know it at the time, as all I could see was gasoline pouring out from under the bottom of the car. Took the ride of shame home on a flatbed tow truck. Got it in the garage and jacked up on stands. All it was was one of the rubber hoses got blown off the barbed fitting. These hoses were new in 2015, but were kinda "slimey" inside. Ended up cutting the end of the hose off to good clean rubber and put it all back together and tightened it up. Cost nothing to fix except the ride home.

Hopefully yours will be just as simple.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm hoping it is as simple as you suggest, I always seek simple, but who knows until I 'dive in to it' and see what is wrong. I remember replacing the accumulator years ago. The cavity is a awful place to work in, beer sized can in the middle of an already cramped space to work in with out ruining anything else in there!

[Jonathan]

I checked area around fuel pump(access inside trunk) and didn't find any 'wet' fuel lines there. Tomorrow I'll put the car on jacks and get under to see where the failure is, any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome to help me track down issue.....

You might need to look in this area again, but next time do it with the fuel pump running by jumpering the RPM relay. Find a helper so that one of you can do the looking while the other can turn the fuel pump on and then off again.

While it is true that if it was a high pressure line (from the discharge side of the pump) the fuel would be spraying everywhere, it could also be the high pressure line coming off the pump has just slipped back enough on that barbed fitting to let it spray out, but not all over everywhere. I had that happen while driving on I75 home from Dayton, Ohio believe it or not. Fixed it on the side of the highway. Now that was nerve racking!

If it isn't just a line that broke loose completely on its own, are there any parts of the fuel system you recently did work on? That seems to be the common cause for a lot of new issues on our cars. Stuff we just finished tinkering with.

[ritztoys]

You might need to look in this area again, but next time do it with the fuel pump running by jumpering the RPM relay. Find a helper so that one of you can do the looking while the other can turn the fuel pump on and then off again.

While it is true that if it was a high pressure line (from the discharge side of the pump) the fuel would be spraying everywhere, it could also be the high pressure line coming off the pump has just slipped back enough on that barbed fitting to let it spray out, but not all over everywhere.

Thanks for the suggestion...........as you can read I did just that, only this time I did run the car again and looked and waited and looked again.

I was correct at guessing a fuel line but I missed where it was coming from. It wasn't from the accumulator area (cavity of frustration COF , thank you Jesus), as I was watching I noticed gas coming out from the top edges and on the return fuel line into the pump boot. Now all this discharged gas was flowing down the front of the gas tank and then onto the closing plate where the gas drained from the back edge of said plate.

I forgot seeing this and assumed the COF where the leak could have been.

Fortunately I have an extra fuel pump boot and plenty of extra fuel hose, thank goodness my car always seems to 'break' in my garage or very close, my car loves me!