Fuel for Thought

Repair Time

        Well, my week was going good, then I had to go out of service for a couple days.  It started out paying well, then ground to a halt!  I came back to Ohio towards the end of the week, and noticed an intermittent faint smell of fuel.  Since my van is a diesel, it always smells a little bit of burning diesel of course, but this was stronger than normal. I hadn't noticed anything, but decided I'd better get it checked out.  While parked in my driveway, I saw nothing under the hood, under the van etc.  Finally, after starting the van, I saw a little drip, which we traced to a pinhole leak in a fuel injector line on top of the engine.  The reason the smell was faint was the the tiny leak was dripping at the back of the hot engine, right by the transmission, and mostly evaporating.. not enough to make a huge mess, but enough to make a stink.  So, it turns out a clamp had rusted, and the rust was just starting to work it's way into the line.  We caught it just in time. Of course, the relatively simple looking little line was a dealer only line, and it took us 2 days to get it in and installed, so it was late Friday before I got my van running.  No runs this weekend, so I ended up spending the weekend with family, and going  to church.  Back in service, waiting for the call!  Just shows to go ya.. ya just never know how things are going to go.. so you've got to be prepared, and have a reserve for those 'surprises'!