Fuel leak? Help!
 

Hey all, I have a '96 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT that I am sad to say has seen better days. When I started her up today, I drove a couple of miles and there was a really strong smell of gas. Taking her back home, I looked under the truck and towards the front saw this:

https://youtu.be/eh51M0zaXXw

It certainly smelled like fuel, but no clue what it could be. Any help much appreciated!!

Cheers.

C

You my friend, have a fuel leak! Don't drive the truck any further until that leak is addressed, or your truck may end up being burnt toast. I'd suggest checking the plastic crossover fuel line between the two metal fuel injections rails at the rear of the intake manifold. The plastic line tends to crack, given the age of these trucks. That line can be replaced with 5/16" rubber fuel injection line and two fuel injection hose clamps. Also, check the metal injector rails themselves on each side of the motor, as they tend to be thin and can sometimes crack, as well, with age.

Thanks so much! Yeah, it was a bit nerve-wracking driving it home. Felt like it could go up at any moment. Any idea on how challenging that job is to do? Does anything need to be removed to get to the fuel line? If I took it to a garage, what sort of $ might I expect?

Thanks again.

If its a fuel leak in the cross-over hose at the back of the intake, you can repair it pretty easily by cutting off the old plastic hose with a utility knife and inserting a length of 5/16" fuel injection hose along with two fuel injection hose clamps (available at any local auto parts store). Open the hood and start up the truck and verify that's where the fuel leak is coming from, however, that cross-over fuel line at the back of the intake manifold is my 1st place to look.

Thanks. I'll take a look later. Admittedly don't know much abt repairing trucks, but this is all very helpful!

I took another video of it from a different angle:


Not sure if that helps to clarify anything?

Thx again. C

That video doesn't help at all. As mentioned earlier, check on top of the engine, especially behind the intake manifold to find the actual leak. You may need a step stool to see the area clearly of climb up into the engine compartment after running the engine for a few moments to get the leak to appear. It appears that the fuel leak is up around the engine compartment area and flowing downward.

Put the key in the ignition and prime the pump(turn to on but don't crank it) then have a look at the fuel line running back from the rail.Shouldn't be hard to find.

Ok! So I primed it and seem to have found a leak (not sure if there might be more?). Anybody know where this might be coming from? Thx!


C

It's a cracked crossover plastic fuel line that goes in between the two metal fuel injection rails behind the intake as I mentioned earlier - "I'd suggest checking the plastic crossover fuel line between the two metal fuel injections rails at the rear of the intake manifold. The plastic line tends to crack, given the age of these trucks. That line can be replaced with 5/16" rubber fuel injection line and two fuel injection hose clamps. Also, check the metal injector rails themselves on each side of the motor, as they tend to be thin and can sometimes crack, as well, with age."

Thanks AtomicDog. If I took it to a garage, would it be a big job to have someone do? $300-500ish? Thx.