[driver found]

Hello all,

Hoping someone might have experience with this so I don't have to rip the whole area apart to troubleshoot. My 9-3 has developed a leak NEAR the fuel filter. The fuel is literally dripping off the middle of the filter, pretty much right around where the band clamp is. The connections on the ends of the filter appear tight and dry, and the filter doesn't appear to be damaged in any way, so I'm not convinced it's the filter itself.

Is there anything ABOVE The filter that might be leaking down on to it? Of course it's pretty much impossible to see up there. The leak only seems to happen when the car is running, and it's a drip every few seconds. Happens no matter what the fuel level is in the tank, and doesn't seem to have any relationship to when I fill the tank or how I drive.

 

[Tweek's Turbos]

First thing I would do, it get all new o rings and a new filter, swap it all over and in and see if that fixes anything.

 

[DeLorean]

I would fully agree with that - also, of note in some rusty north-easy cars, I have seen the banjo bolts themselves deteriorate - be sure that the mating surfaces of the bolts themselves are clean and rust free, any rust that has gotten into surface where the rubber of the O-rings seats will make it leak.

most likely, a new filter and o-rings (all 4) will correct the leak.

 

[driver found]

At first glance I said "yep, it's the filter" but then I laid under there for a while with the car running and I'm not so convinced. I'm on the verge of doing a new filter just for the sake of getting a new filter on there (I'd definitely need new banjo bolts too, these ones are rusty) but I'm not really convinced that the leak is actually coming from the filter. At least, not from the connections on it. The gas literally drips down from the middle of the filter, and the ends (where the connections are) are dry. The whole middle of the filter is wet - it almost looks like gas is dripping on it from above, running down it, and dripping off the bottom.

I did a search on old threads and saw mention of an access compartment from under the back seat where a sensor it located? Maybe I'll check there tonight. Are the connections to the filler neck anywhere near the area above the filter?

edit - anyone have a part number for the banjo bolts or online vendor that lists them? Can't find them at eeuroparts.

 

[Tweek's Turbos]

I think if it were leaking from the top of the tank down, you would have an awful gas smell in the car.

Start with the filter, at least once you remove it, you may see what is going on above or in it.

 

[driver found]

Gas smell is very awful in the car but only when windows are down or sunroof is open, or sometimes when sitting still in traffic for a long time, so yeah, that makes sense.

I'll go ahead with the filter as soon as I find a way to get my hands on those banjo bolts...

 

[Tweek's Turbos]

Have you pulled up your rear seat and looked? Does this happen with a full tank? You may need a fresh o ring around the pump seating area.

Did the fuel pump get replaced recently?

 

[driver found]

Just pulled up the seat on my lunch break and had a look in that little access hole. It was totally dry and didn't even smell.

Dunno about the fuel pump. I will take a look at my 2" thick stack of receipts from the PO tonight.

 

[el-anders]

Sounds to me that salt has eaten a hole on top of the filter. I know its hard to lay under a car when fuel is dripping in your face, but can you take a mirror and look? Or just change the filter. As long as there is not big chunks of metal gone from the banjos, they are normally still useable. Surface rust is not a problem.

 

[Tweek's Turbos]

Yeah, just pick up the parts, I will drink your home made beer and watch while you change it.

 

[driver found]

I'm worried about the banjos snapping off when I go to remove them. It's happened on nearly every banjo bolt I've ever touched on a northeastern car. I appreciate the concept of a banjo bolt but they just don't seem durable in the real world (go figure - hollowing out a bolt makes it weak).

Ben, you can have as much of that beer as you want. The only stuff that's left is pretty old and skunky at this point. I have ingredients to make another batch though so maybe if you come up for car shows this summer there will be something fresh...

 

[DeLorean]

The banjos won't snap off - if they did, it would be a good thing.

The problem you are going to have is the fuel filter rotating when you apply a good bit of torque to it. Be sure to stick a wrench on both banjo bolts, and turn each in opposite directions (off and off), and be ready to get "gassed"

 

[Tweek's Turbos]

No no no, the body of the filter has 6 points on it at each end. I have the wrench for the body of the filter.

 

[driver found]

Well I owe you guys a "told you so." It WAS the filter. It had been physically damaged. Once I got it off I could see that the bracket that attaches it to the car was pretty mangled and the filter was dented in up on the topside. The weird thing was the way in which it was mangled. It looked like the filter had been knocked/pulled DOWN away from the car. If it had been hit by road debris I would have expected the opposite. At any rate, it's not leaking any more. And yeah Ben, I used the flats on the filter to hold it (with a plain old wrench). The banjos came right out no problem. Whole job took 15 minutes.

I was feeling so confident I got out the PCV update kit I've had sitting around for a few months waiting for good weather and tried to put that on. First step - nipple on the valve cover. SNAP. Broke the old one getting it out. SNAP. Broke the new one putting it in. So much for that idea. Hopefully the dealer has this part singly and not just as part of the kit...

 

[driver found]

Okay, WTF. The dealer wants $26 for the PCV nipple (part 9192949). eeuro has it for $1.89. Of course they will rape me on shipping...

 

[el-anders]

26 for a piece of plastic.....wow!

 

[mdegracia]

Eeuro shipping is pretty fair. Order more parts and get free shipping! Either way they ship super fast - I get my stuff in 1 - 2 days.

 

[driver found]

Yeah, I've never had an eeuro order take longer than 24 hours. I JUST did an order from them, padded up to $59 for free shipping, to get the fuel filter, so I don't have anything else to pad with.

Anyways I got it from the dealer, but it's the wrong freaking part. The big outlet is at a slightly different angle and it's slightly smaller in diameter. I pointed out the differences to the parts guy but he insisted it was correct. I got it to seal with a zip tie. I guess I'll take this part back and just suck it up and order from eeuro.

But, the saga continues. Now, the car surges ever so slightly at part throttle. I'm guessing it's related to this PCV job somehow.