Diesel owners... any leaks in US?

Apr 20, 2006 10 Replies

Hey guys/gals, I know in US we have switched to very low sulfur fuel... I think... I remember we had a fiasco when we did that long ago and all fuel lines started leaking. Well, mine did... and at alarming rate and systemwide...



I know on my car, it was all original and needed changing... but whoa... this is massive everywhere. So, do any of you have this problem lately?


What year is your diesel, Tiger? There's a decent blurb on the Chevron website about low sulfur fuels and possible fuel leaks at

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Josh

California reduced the sulfur some years ago and there were many complaints - mostly caused by old dried up "O" rings and hoses.

My '80 300SD sprang a small leak at one of the fuel lines to the fuel tank. It was replaced and no further fuel leaks - anywhere; that was at least five, if not seven years ago.

These leaks are something to watch for and are annoying but not catastrophic failures that leave one stranded.

The only leaks I've ever had on my 80 300SD have been the fabric covered type of fuel injector return lines. Don't know if it was related to the change in fuel. But now that you mention it, they never leaked for the first 10-15 years, but after that, were a constant problem. Replaced with merc hose, they last a couple of years, then start weaping.

So, I got some plastic type fuel line and replaced it with that. No more leaks!

Not sure of the exact material. I just took a piece of the old hose to the local NAPA store and had them match it. They cut it off a spool for me. It's semi-transparent, with a yellow color, very flexible and rated for fuel use. Seems similar to clear vinyl type flexible hose that's used for water. But obviously it's made of something different.

Thanks, I'll try that the next time the fabric covered hoses start weeping. They've gotten quite expensive, another reason to try something else.

Gotten expensive?! HA! Try $15 per linear feet at your local stealership.

You're sounding like McBrue....

LOL... Stealership drives me nutty when I paid $45 for 3 feet of braided rubber hose!

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