I have a pretty substantial fuel leak on the passenger side of my engine. Started hunting, and confirmed that the valley is clean/empty. The is no visible fuel leak on the top side of the fuel bowl (none of the inputs/outputs from the fuel bowl appear to be leaking). When under pressure (fuel pump priming the engine or the engine running), there is a continuous stream of diesel coming from the drain pipe on the passenger side, just forward and above the front axle.

I am reasonably sure, from what I've read, that this is indicative of a failure in the fuel bowl drain valve (reference for part here: https://www.dieselorings.com/7-025-c...9-03-7-3l.html). If I replace the valve/its O rings, should I also purge/replace all other seals in the fuel bowl? I'm pretty sure there's like half a dozen to a dozen of them.

 

It would be a good idea to. There 20+ years old now. Pretty. Simple job to rebuild/replace them all with tbe kit they sell.

 

Correct Assuming the rear of the valley is dry and it's not the fuel return line at the failure prone hanger clip, and is only leaking at the fuel bowl drain.

Spring for the fancy florosilicone orings option. Spend a day and clean it all up good. Have some brass and nylon brushes on hand for the job. Just be wary of messing with the standpipe. If you turn it to the wrong position you'll cut off fuel flow from the filter to the heads

 

I’m the oddball out. When my bowl drain started leaking slightly last year I opted to just rebuild the drain valve. Didn’t want to mess with the other stuff that wasn’t broken.

Yes, get the upgraded kit from diesel orings .com or Riffraff.

edit: I did the full bowl rebuild on dads truck years ago but don’t remember why. It’s an easy job but much more time consuming then just a drain rebuild.

 

I replaced the o-rings in the fuel drain valve a few weeks ago. The old ones were hard as a rock. It was an easy job. It took longer to clean it up than the actual labor to R&R the valve.

 

Surprise of all surprises, one of the o-rings on the drain valve had a hole eaten right through it. A hell of a lot easier than expected pulling the fuel bowl, and pretty straightforward brushing off the residue/replacing all the rings. Appreciate the confirmation/advice.

I'm considering adding some tubing/a hose to route the drain pipe into some form of a collection vessel. Would certainly make me more comfortable knowing I wont be dumping fuel all over the place if/when this happens again: Just gonna have to add it to the list of things to check when filling up the tank.

 

It should be good for another 20 years now. I wouldn't worry about a collection vessel. It would just fill up and leak out on the ground before you realized it was leaking.

 

Ah yes. The practical solution is therefore a collection vessel the size of my primary fuel tank. 👀

Jokes aside, appreciate it. She's got 230K in 20 years, so heres to 270K more in the next 20.

 

I slipped some hose over the end of the drain pipe, long enough to fit thru a handy hole in the frame IIRC. Just so any fuel leakage falls in a better place, easier to isolate.

 

last one I rebuilt someone had clamped a hose on it and threaded a bolt into the hose to stop the leak.

 

Doing so certainly makes pulling fuel samples to inspect for water and an other contaminants infinitely easier. The added drain hose also facilitates draining the fuel bowl for periodic fuel filter changes.

With a provision to collect the fuel drained for servicing the filter, the fuel is not wasted, and can be reused if clean and caught in a clean dry container.

It takes a surprisingly long drain hose to work well. I found that a minimum of 6 feet of fuel and oil safe hose works best. I thread the hose through the holes in the engine crossmember, and then bridge the gap to the lower radiator support by taking advantage of the transmission cooling tube elbows and bracket on the passenger side end of the lower radiator end tank, and finally retain the tail end of the hose with broom stick clips fastened with two piece Christmas tree type nylon rivets that originally retain the rubber air deflector between the heat exchangers.







Ignore the overlay of text in the next photo...the remarks are a response in jest within the context of an older thread from several years ago.

 

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