Bizarre Fuel Leak
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Bizarre Fuel Leak
Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum as I've never had need to post anything but now I desperately need some advice. I've got a late 99 7.3 truck that I just recently did a lot of work on. I installed a new turbo with bellowed up pipes and a new exhaust system and when I went to start it up it started leaking fuel in the back pretty badly. Initially I thought it was the banjo bolt or the passenger fuel line but looking at it more closely I realized that it's not coming from there. It's dripping all over the side of the starter and is collecting at the low point of the metal lines down below. I also saw small droplets coming out of the up pipe where it meets the manifold but it looked like nowhere near enough to produce the kind of leak I'm seeing, also I know fuel shouldn't be coming out of the up pipe to begin with. This is really annoying and I would like to drive my truck again.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2005
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From: Norco,CA
There's a metal line that goes down the passenger head with a clamp in the middle. It is known to leak. Also it connects to the back of the head on that side, did you bump it and cause a leak. Look on top of the motor to see if that is where it is coming. It will leak down as you see and even spray some times. If so you need to replace this line. Put a rubber hose around the new one at that point of the clamp if you replace it.
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If you're talking about the line that runs from the fuel bowl to the back of the head, I've already looked at it and it's dry. Ill try running the truck to see but it's a pretty strong leak so I don't want to run it too long.
Cargo Master
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 2,502
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From: Bend Oregon
You don't have to run it, you can have someone sit inside and turn the key to start..., fuel pump will run for 30 seconds or so. Or you could Hotwire the fuel pump with a remote switch so you could toggle it on and off from under the hood.
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I made sure that everything went in carefully and that nothing got hit or jiggled when the down pipe and turbo went in. Also I'm not seeing any line with a clamp on it. I ran the truck anyway just to see what was what and it looked like it was coming out the bottom of the starter as well, maybe just drainage from the top? I looked up there as well and saw nothing coming out anywhere.
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Another strange thing I saw was that the down pipe was perfectly dry, like no fuel had hit it, but yet it got on everything else there.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2004
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From: Amarillo, TEXAS!
Look up at the back of the head and see if it's coming from the banjo bolt. It will look like a plug with a 1/4" square drive, between a freeze plug and a bolt boss.
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Already looked at the banjo bolt, didn't see a bit of leakage from it. I can keep looking at it but I'm getting kind of frustrated and I'm going to take a break for now. If anyone else has any advice I'll gladly read it.