Light fuel leak at the fuel distributor

[FPBBrandon]

I got my car home last night, and thought I smelled gas in the garage when I put it away.

I poked around this morning to find a pinhole leak coming from one of the banjo bolts for the fuel lines into the fuel distributor.

My question is can I disconnect the line from the car to try replacing the sealing washers easily? I'm not sure how much pressure is sitting in the line, or any other gotchas in working with the lines.

Any advice? I checked the FAQ and How-to and didn't see much there that pertained to distributor.

[Ron]

There is enough pressure that you might loose an ounce or so of fuel if you don't wait a few hours. I'd use a rag to catch it if I just couldn't wait...use new washers if possible.

[FPBBrandon]

There is enough pressure that you might loose an ounce or so of fuel if you don't wait a few hours. I'd use a rag to catch it if I just couldn't wait...use new washers if possible.

Thanks much. Can I source the washers locally (i.e. would they cross from other K-jet cars?)

[sdg3205]

Thanks much. Can I source the washers locally (i.e. would they cross from other K-jet cars?)

Ive ordered them through volvo dealers. There is a wait sometimes.

[jawn101]

The washers are surprisingly hard to find. I would have thought enough K-Jet was out there in the world to make them common, but the last time I tried to buy them the guy tried to convince me a small fender washer was the same thing

[Ron]

Thanks much. Can I source the washers locally (i.e. would they cross from other K-jet cars?)

I get them from my local ACE. Take an old one with you because they carry two that are very close to the same size for injector banjos (match the ID)...they have most of the others and if not, I get them from DMCMW (Dave or Julee). (Order extras ;-)

[DeLorean03]

You are VERY fortunate to have caught this in your garage, and you're subject to a miracle if you drove the car home with that leak. We have had a scary spike of engine fires lately, and fuel leaks are suspected to be easily the #1 cause of them. Call DMCMW (Dave and Julee), get new washers. Get a full set for everything on the distributor (18 small ones for the fuel lines and 3 big ones for the "bigger lines" on the side and back of the FD) as well as washers (2) for the cold start valve (CSV) and for the CPR/WUR (4) (control pressure regulator/warm up regulator).

This is not an area of the car you want to be questionnable or luke-warm about.

The banjo bolts should be a 12mm. Have a shoprag (red rag) ready underneath your wrench to catch any fuel that comes out. If you're going to wait a day or two, very minimal fuel come out, but expect a few drops easily - even after a day or two.

[Mark D]

Do banjo bolts really just start leaking out of nowhere like this? It seems really unlikely that suddenly a fitting would loosen up or a copper washer would fail.

If I had to guess a failure point I'd expect that the hose itself has a small leak and it's just dripping down onto the banjo bolt giving you the impression that the fitting/copper washer is leaking.

The fuel injector hoses are somewhat deceiving because of how they are constructed. The inner diameter is much smaller than you realize and there is a thick outer rubber cover over the thermoplastic inner hose. The plastic portion of the hose gets brittle and will develop hairline cracks causing fuel to leak but with no visible damage from the outside. The rubber protects the plastic hose but also covers up any cracks. Eventually the pressurized fuel will be able to find it's way between the layers of the hose and start to cause visible leaks.

The top of my fuel distributor was consistantly wet with fuel but all fittings were tight... leading me to suspect the hoses. It wasn't until I carefully cut back the rubber outer hose cover that I was able to find where the inner hose had failed.

Even if your banjo fittings/copper washers ARE the culprit in this case I would still recommend replacing the stock fuel hoses. If they are not leaking now they could end up failing as a result of flexing the hoses around as you go through and replace the copper washers. The SS braided fuel line kits are cheap compared to fire damage.

[OverlandMan]

+1 to what others have said about you dodging a real problem so far. I had a small engine fire a month ago that still has my car off the road. I was lucky in that I caught it before any real damage was done. Others have had their car completely lost. I'm in the process of gathering up all the necessary parts to rebuild the k-jet part of the fuel system.

I'd recommend you doing this as well before you drive the car any more.

[FPBBrandon]

I got at it last night, and did some investigating. The sealing washer on the high side of the banjo bolt has a small straight channel in it (that I can see and feel with a fingernail) thats letting the fuel squirt out under pressure. The banjo head itself looks like its a little rounded off compared to the other 5 on the distributor. The car will be off the road until this gets cleared up.

I think new sealing washers and a banjo bolt for the line will hopefully do the trick to get rid of this particular line's issue. I'm considering doing all 6, but as mentioned above I'm not sure I want to run the risk of tweaking the old lines unnecessarily until I have replacement lines in hand ready to change. As far as I can tell from everything I looked at last night, this is the only fuel leak I have.