a friendly reminder to make sure when doing any kind of fuel mod...do it right the first time..

this guy was very lucky he was only in the house for a minute and that it was very small leak..any longer in the house or a bigger spray of fuel his truck would be gone..


Wow- today was my lucky day. Usually I start and drive off. Today, I started and went inside to get a new blade for a wiper, came out and noticed moderate amount of smoke coming from under the front of my Nov 1999 build F350. Shut it off, popped the hood, opened it and was very surprised to see a wee tiny fire burning behind the plastic fuel filter cover. I jumped up and was able to blow it out quickly (like a candle on a birthday cake). Below is a picture with labels...

The fire seemed to be related mostly to spilling fuel and a tab of hanging electrical tape...no other damage apparent. The fuel appeared to be leaking out from around the base of a white plug on the back of the fuel filter housing...my Chiltons is not clear, I think that this is the fuel heater...it is circled in the attached picture. The base of the white plug appears to have significant heat damage. Also, one of the terminals on the glow plug relay appears burned...this is also circled in the picture.
Any thoughts on this gentlemen? What is the white plug? Anyone had this problem? Recommendations? One relevant note is that I live off of the road system in rural Alaska and have no Ford diesel mechanic locally.

 

something else i found on the net..

The new Gates hose we're using is "Push-Lok" compatible, but existing customers wanting to upgrade to this hose need to be aware that Gates recommends the addition of a clamp in any application where fuel is involved..

 

Would it be safe to say that the fuel bowl heater shorted out, causing the leak at the fuel bowl and started a small fire?

 

Ron,
The white plug is for the fuel bowl heater, I belive there are o-rings in there that could leak. My heater shorted out and fuse #30 went south I just unpluged it. The terminal on the reley is probably just loose or the internals of the relay are going bad, I would replace.

 

quite possible however the truck was still running..as a rule when the heater shorts out it pops the fuse and shuts the truck down...it sounds like fuel got behind the plug creating a spark then flamed up..

i took my bowl and all stock lines out of my truck...i have no o rings to let go and all my hoses have crimped ends...i dont fool around with fuel lines..lost a good friend that way....

 

Thanks for the post Ron. Went to town last night for some groceries and came back out to the smell of fuel and a very small puddle under the truck. Looked like leaking orings on my drain valve. I did notice that the fuel bowl heater plug was soaked. Gonna wash it off this morning and verify leak location.

 

That relay you have circled is your glow plug relay. If that outbound side is getting hot enought to roast the boot and do that, replace the relay. Although it could be as already said, a loose connection that is arching causing the excess heat. But that is the original relay... May as well get a better one in there. You can get a Stancor relay for about $25. And it will be alot stronger.

The Orings on the drain valve is a good place to start. Easy and cheap to fix too.

 

What does this have to do with a fuel bowl leak and a shorted fuel bowl heater?

 

Do I understand your post in that this experience was not you, Ron, but something that you found?

 

The example cited above was clipped from a post I did earlier this year on January 16 when my fuel bowl heater came loose. It shorted against the fuel filter housing causing the wire to the heater to heat up and melt through the plug where it goes through the housing. This resulted in a pressurized fuel release. All of this was replaced and is fine now.

This was not related in any way to a fuel system modification.

The original post with color pictures is here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...gine-fire.html

Thanks.

 

Absolutely NOTHING.

Just as he could have very easily posted a reminder on the subject of this thread by simply posting to Portsample's original thread to show the whole story.

 

However, a reminder to use clamps on Push-Lok fittings couldn't hurt!

It's a "fuel leak" kinda' thing.....

Pop

 

But wasn't that already beat to death in another thread just last week??????

 

Yes, but safety is something that can't be over-emphasized, and fuel-leak fire safety is pretty important.

Not everybody reads all the threads, and some may have missed it when it last was mentioned. That happens frequently here.

It isn't a bandwidth issue, is it?

Pop

 

I totally agree that safety can't be over-emphasized.

Nope, not a bandwidth issue.