SaintC
12-09-2003, 22:29
Thought I would relay a little story of my visit to the mechanic.
A couple of years ago (pre-diesel page member), I was having an electrical problem with my truck. On two instances, once stone cold, and once after a 10 minute stop, the truck would have NO POWER. When I say no power, I mean there is no electrical power to anything....nothing worked.
The first time this happened, I had to get towed home. When the tow truck dropped my truck off the bed, the jolt kicked the electrical back on. It then worked for a while with no problems. Then, dead in the drive way. I messed with this and that, and could not figure it out.
So, I took my truck to a local shop that swore they were diesel specialists. I figured they could fix the electrical problem, and also replace those little fuel return lines, since mine were about 20 years old, cracked, and leaking a bit.
When the tow truck dropped my truck off, guess what? Yep, the electrical kicked back on. I explained the situation, and $540 dollars later, my return lines were replaced, the fuel heater, and not much else. They said that although the electrical did not act up on them, they fixed what they believed to be the problem...loose battery connection.
Boy this is getting long....
They did NOT fix the electrical problem...I joined here, and through alot of help, we tracked down the problem to the solenoid.
Cut to now....I have a fuel leak. Investigating where the leak is coming from, the fuel is coming from the driver side exhaust pipe, where it connects to the header????????? How can this be? I cannot see any fuel leaking from above that canister that is there. The canister is called the EFE Actuator, which is supposed to help with the rapid heating of the engine by restricting the exhaust while the engine is cold. As it turns out, the fuel is leaking between the two half shells of the canister.
Further investigation.....it seems that those wonderful mechanics who could not find nor fix my electrical problem, also routed the last fuel return line (one that gets capped) and plugged it into the vacuum nipple of the canister. It just took this long for the canister to give up, and leak the fuel. I also found the vacuum line that was supposed to be plugged into the canister, just hanging there along side the engine.
I do not know if a hot exhaust can set off diesel fuel, but luckily, the leak went straight to the ground without touching the exhaust pipe.
There should be a thread called "Tales from a visit to the mechanic"
A couple of years ago (pre-diesel page member), I was having an electrical problem with my truck. On two instances, once stone cold, and once after a 10 minute stop, the truck would have NO POWER. When I say no power, I mean there is no electrical power to anything....nothing worked.
The first time this happened, I had to get towed home. When the tow truck dropped my truck off the bed, the jolt kicked the electrical back on. It then worked for a while with no problems. Then, dead in the drive way. I messed with this and that, and could not figure it out.
So, I took my truck to a local shop that swore they were diesel specialists. I figured they could fix the electrical problem, and also replace those little fuel return lines, since mine were about 20 years old, cracked, and leaking a bit.
When the tow truck dropped my truck off, guess what? Yep, the electrical kicked back on. I explained the situation, and $540 dollars later, my return lines were replaced, the fuel heater, and not much else. They said that although the electrical did not act up on them, they fixed what they believed to be the problem...loose battery connection.
Boy this is getting long....
They did NOT fix the electrical problem...I joined here, and through alot of help, we tracked down the problem to the solenoid.
Cut to now....I have a fuel leak. Investigating where the leak is coming from, the fuel is coming from the driver side exhaust pipe, where it connects to the header????????? How can this be? I cannot see any fuel leaking from above that canister that is there. The canister is called the EFE Actuator, which is supposed to help with the rapid heating of the engine by restricting the exhaust while the engine is cold. As it turns out, the fuel is leaking between the two half shells of the canister.
Further investigation.....it seems that those wonderful mechanics who could not find nor fix my electrical problem, also routed the last fuel return line (one that gets capped) and plugged it into the vacuum nipple of the canister. It just took this long for the canister to give up, and leak the fuel. I also found the vacuum line that was supposed to be plugged into the canister, just hanging there along side the engine.
I do not know if a hot exhaust can set off diesel fuel, but luckily, the leak went straight to the ground without touching the exhaust pipe.
There should be a thread called "Tales from a visit to the mechanic"