95 LeSabre Fuel Leak Near Fuel Rail Quick-Connect

[CarDude225]

95 LeSabre / 99,500mi


I thought I would just offer an informative post, since I found very little information on the subject.

I was alerted by my wife driving the LeSabre that it smelled like gas. Parking the car, shutting it off, and looking under the hood, gas was spraying out of the main 3/8in line supplying the fuel rail. The stream of spray was toward the firewall in the vicinity of the blower motor, and above the hot exhaust manifold. The spraying continued for a number of minutes until the pressure in the fuel system was relieved.

This was very alarming to me.

As a temporary repair, on site I treated the leak area with epoxy. Eventually I deemed it safe enough to drive home. Over the next few days I applied up to 5 total coats of epoxy.

Note: After a few days, it began leaking as the epoxy was lifting off of the nylon tube. As an emergency measure, I did the standard "wrap-and-clamp" with rubber which held well for a day until I did the following:

I found in stock at Advance Auto Parts a brand "Needy" #800-059 3/8in rail connector right-angle to a few inches of nylon tube to a barbed coupler. Do not confuse this part number with brand "Dorman" #800-059 (which probably would have worked just as well). This was $20 (overpriced, but cheaper than replacing a burned up car). I installed this last night. Dealing with fuel, I was not terribly impressed with the way this re-designed quick connector was secured to the fuel rail, so I added 2 zip ties to help keep the connector on the rail. I also used my own screw-clamp at the far end to secure the car's nylon line to the barb. I then used electrical tape to wrap the metal clamps and barb, in effort to insulate them from heat, thinking that the searing hot heat that exists in these engine compartments may cause the metal in the fuel lines to alter the nylon fuel lines causing another leak. I really don't want to play around with FUEL, especially while my girls are driving that car.

Epoxied Repair

I consider this permanently repaired now. I will reply to this post with updates if there are any further problems regarding this repair.

 

[CarDude225]

Please note, this turned out NOT to be a good fix, as the union with the clamps is LEAKING fuel after several days.

It is very aggravating how much of a pain this repair has become.

I have to figure out what to do next to make this repair.

 

[CarDude225]

The Fourth Attempted Solution

I cut the old short barbed coupler out (hardly "barbed"), and installed longer double-barbed (on each end) coupler (Needa #800-011), using 2 screw clamps each side. I accidentally bent the supply line a bit near the power steering fluid reserve (hopefully it is not damaged). Draped the clamped assembly in rubber hose & secured using zip ties.
Ran to hot: no leaks.
Note: It gets EXTREMELY hot in the area where the repair is. To keep an eye for leaks.
If this ends up leaking fuel, the only option that remains will be to replace the 3/8in nylon fuel line from the rail to the body.

Note: To install the nylon-to-nylon coupler, I applied a thin coat of grease to each end and inside the 3/8in tubes, then used a hair dryer on highest heat setting to heat both the tube and the metal coupler, and shoved them together. Some people have reported using hot water to accomplish the same thing, but this method seemed to do just fine (easier and with less mess).

 

[njk53]

I have had the same problem with a leaky return fuel line at the rear of my car. I just spliced in a piece of quality fuel hose and double clamped it. Seems to be fine. If you are not comfortable with the rubber hose fix, a good auto parts store (not O'reilly's or Autozone) usually will have a kit to repair and crimp new plastic quick connects on new line.