On Thu, 18 Dec 2003, The Bus Depot wrote:

> Absolutely!  Some years ago the genuine VW high pressure fuel hose in my
> fuel-injected Bus (same type used in a Westy) got a pinhole leak and
> sprayed a huge volume of fuel all over my engine. You would not believe
> how much fuel pissed out of the tiny hole! Fuel was everywhere!  It's a
> high pressure system and a little hole can spray a lot of gas.  It was
> sheer luck that I noticed the smell and pulled over before a drop
> happened to hit something ignitable.

Another really bad thing is if you drive around with a fuel smell (maybe
from bad fuel tank vent lines) for long enough, you get acclimated to the
smell and no longer notice it, even if it gets worse.

When I test drove my Volvo, it was almost immediately apparent to me that
the car *reeked* of gasoline.  I complained to the owner; he'd noticed an
occasional whiff of gas odor but the problem had grown slowly enough that
he didn't realize how bad it had gotten.  He took it in to his mechanic,
who found the connection between the fuel pump and fuel filter was
*spraying* fuel under the car.  He also found two more leaks where steel
"hard lines" had rusted through, proving that using something other than
rubber hose won't always prevent problems...

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Volkswagen Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si -- For Sale
'86 Volvo 240DL wagon