My wife, son, and I were driving home from visiting family last night in a bit of a snow storm. We were about 25 miles from home and I decided to pull over because a lot of slush had built up on my windshield wipers. We pulled over, I removed the slush and put it in drive to head home and noticed the idle was very erratic and my fuel guage was reading lower than expected (I was between a 3/4 and 7/8 tank last I had noticed and the guage was now reading 5/8). I made a few attempts of restarting the truck, pulled codes with the key trick (none), and somehow it started running right and we made it home. We smelled gas as we drove the last 30 minutes and I told my wife that it looked like my truck was leaking fuel, but I just wanted to get it home.

We confirmed the fuel leak when we got home (a little after midnight), the truck was absolutely dumping fuel just behind the motor but still got us home. According to the fuel guage (not the most accurate instrument) I lost over 3/4 a fuel tank within 25 miles of mostly freeway driving.

It is my understanding that the fuel line is steel hard line all the way up to a flex SS line that feeds the fuel rails. I am guessing the flex line is my culprit, but I am more familiar with Cummins 2nd gen trucks. Are both ends of the flex line quick disconnect? What are some of my possible problems given the approximate location of my leak?

I will be looking at it shortly, but if anyone has had an issue like this, I would appreciate hearing about your experience.

 

Find where the leak is and repair it with some fuel hose and clamps(if it's the hard line). The fuel line is 2 pieces. Front half and back half. Both have special ends. Dealer part if you want to replace like oem. BTW, sounds like you got lucky in more ways than one.

 

zman17, thanks for the quick reply. I went and checked things out. Luckily I have remote start (just me and my 2.5 yr old boy today), otherwise I wouldn't be able to watch the leak as the truck started.

I am rather convinced it is the flex line, but I will pull it off and inspect it. The top side where it connects to the fuel rail is dry, and it seems rather obvious it is coming from somewhere between the top and where it connects to the hard line.

I even caught a video for your enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71ug5...ature=youtu.be

 

Holy smoke...... I would pull the wrap off the line, and see what you can see. That's a pretty significant leak.

 

Keep it up and you're going to be putting on a Car-B-Que for the entire neighborhood to enjoy.

 

+1.... You need the front half of the line from the dealer. As there is no real good/safe way to repair it(that part of the line). Also junk yard, 98 to 01 will work. If you follow the line towards the back, you will see where it meets the second half. Generally the fuel line is good. It's the brake line that rusts.

 

Hence the very short video, but I thought it was worth documenting. Apparently the closest dealership to me with this part is in Wisconsin. I might try a local junk yard, because I can't wait 3-5 business days.

 

Thing that sucks about the JY is, you need to find one with the motor(and intake) still in it. Because most of the time when they pull the motor they cut that line instead of disconnecting it. And remember, 98 and up to 01 at least.

 

Thanks again for the help. Is the disconnect 3/8" ,5/16" or different?

 

To remove the end at the fuel rail IIRC it is 3/8th's. To disconnect the line 1/2 way to the back, it is a flare nut. So wrenches are needed. If I were you, I'd cut the line behind the connection underneath(the back half of the line) at the jy. Remove the front half and deal with the connection after you get it home.