So, that smell of gasoline...

[seawasp]

I've been smelling gasoline in my car, periodically, for a while. Finally I was able to rule out it being a spill or something from another car, so today when I smelled it strongly I popped up the hood (I was at work) and another guy from work helped me look at it. And found a tiny little hose (I mean, it's thinner than my pinky and not quite as long) which was (probably) cracked and certainly leaking gasoline, drip by drip...

onto the starter motor.

SOOOooooo, I decided not to push my luck. It's sitting at my work's parking lot until tomorrow, when we'll have it towed to the dealer for repairs. Simple repair -- if it were summer I might even attempt it. But not under these conditions. Besides, playing with flammable pressurized hydrocarbons seems something to be left to the professionals. 

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Yikes.

Glad you caught it when you did, then!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a potential bit of overly exciting drama avoided.

That sort of thing is best left in movies and books, RL is almost always better without exploding of on fire cars, especially when you are sitting in them.

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

Oh Shit! I'm so glad you caught that in time. The one engine fire I had was just as I pulled into the mechanics. I had started to walk into the shop when someone said hey isn't that smoke coming out from your engine? In that case the alternator failed. but a gas fire ... just OH SHIT! I'm glad you and your family are safe and you caught it in time before any harm was done.

[kira-snugz.livejournal.com]

woah! good catch! hopefully it won't be costly since it's simple

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Leaving the car was a very, very, very smart choice. I worked at a Chrysler plant in my student days*, and one day a "new guy" on the line fitted the fuel return hoses the wrong way around; QA caught it before any went off to shipping, but not before a few dozen were sitting in the yard. At least one hose leaked as a result of the improper fitting; I know this because I was the one who had to open the gates for the fire trucks coming to put it (and its neighbours) out. "A little leak" can be a big problem...

-- Steve thinks some Jaguars of that era were notorious for parking-lot self-immolation as a result of leaky fuel return hoses, too.

* not as an assembly guy, but doing security/safety work for a contractor.

[lamparty.livejournal.com]

Smart man! You do not want to be the guy, who's picture is posted on Facebook watching his car burn up! The repair will definitely be cheaper than replacing the car when it is toast!

Now that was a very smart move!!

[ancientone.livejournal.com]

I had a return line cracked on my gas line, it leaked in a steady pour onto the road where ever I drove. When I parked, I saw a gasoline trail of where I'd been. scared my pants off.

[brooksmoses]

Yup. My scary experience like that was in an unrestored '64 Falcon convertible that I used to own. One day I was driving it to school, and noticed a bit of smell of gas towards the end of the trip -- and mostly noticed that my gas gauge had dropped by half a tank in the last mile of the trip. So I left it running and popped the hood when I parked it, and...

...saw that the aftermarket pressure regulator that the previous owner had put in the gas line had broken, and was pouring a good-sized continuous stream of gasoline on top of the exhaust manifold.

One of the advantages of a convertible with the top down is that you can get to the ignition key to turn it off in a very big hurry.

I still have no idea how that didn't turn out badly. Probably a combination of a seriously underpowered motor that didn't get the manifold too hot, the electrics all being on the other side of the (inline) engine, and an unreasonably ridiculous amount of luck. Mostly the luck.

[claidheamhmor]

Funny how it's OK to drive right up until the moment you see what the problem is. :)

[claidheamhmor]

The Jaguars...oh yes. The V12 Jags (XJS-V12) had fuel injection, and it was very hot under the hood. The fuel hoses would eventually get hard and crack, and when they cracked, they sprayed 100psi of petrol all over a blistering hot engine.