Could've had a fire...

6

69Falcon

Well-known member
So yesterday I'm leaving work, heading to the grocery store, and I'm smelling gas. Pull over and pop the hood, and HOLY CRAP the 4" flexible hose between the hard line and the carb has split and its spewing gas directly onto the intake manifold, filling the valleys deep enough that it formed a pool and it is boiling!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Luckily it wasn't landing on the exhaust manifold instead!!! I had some replacement hose in the trunk, so I put a new piece in and was on my way.
 
Maybe carrying a fire extinguisher might not be a bad idea :idea:
Glad nothing serious came of it though!
 
Those 45 year old rubber lines just don't last, do they? I had to replace my rubber fuel line to the carb as well. I fear I will only get 20 years out of the new material.
 
8) i know how you feel, i once had a fuel filter decide to spring a leak, all over my distributor.
 
I bet the people at the grocery store appreciated you stinking up the store. It could have happened on the way to work and you would have pissed your co-workers off.
 
I've noticed that although I have more money to buy the parts for my car than I did 25 years ago I seem to have less time. I noticed a fuel smell the other day and my fuel line at the fuel pump is old and weeping. A couple of weeks ago, a heater hose let loose where it had been rubbing. The heater hoses are soft and need replacing too. With kids, and other house projects, 5 to 10 years can pass by pretty quick on some car maintenance items.
Doug
 
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems some of the aftermarket hoses you buy now days do not seem to last as long whether they are heater hoses or fuel lines.
Doug
 
I was working at a Texaco station in the Chicago land area in July 1977. A car pulls in the driveway and the driver gets out and opens the hood. I promptly notice two parallel streams of fluid pulsing 25 to 30 feet in the air. The driver walks over to me and asks " is it safe to drive home". Turns out, you guessed it, the fluid is gas. I tell him HELL NO. Well He drives home anyway and returns the next day so I could replace his leaking fuel pump, on the hottest day of the year no less. I to this day have no idea how he got that car restarted the next morning with out getting incinerated.

Thirty plus years later I know what I should have done was taken his keys and refused to give them back unless the police told me to.

Could have been a Darwin Award winner.
 
frogmn666":18u3fqu8 said:
Do the math! :roll:
Click to expand...

EFI rated hose is much, much better than the junk that came on older cars. It's reinforced and a better grade of rubber to boot.

So I did the math, but remembered to put all the variables in ;)
 
Here in Phoenix, rubber lasts about 2-3 years before it starts to show fatigue and cracks. I regulary replace the rubber fuel lines as a preventitive measure.
 
x21":6e9d2e4q said:
Maybe carrying a fire extinguisher might not be a bad idea :idea:
Glad nothing serious came of it though!
Click to expand...

Actually, I do carry a fire extinguisher for just such an occasion!
 
69Falcon":1ibzxeqy said:
filling the valleys deep enough that it formed a pool and it is boiling!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

Luckily it wasn't landing on the exhaust manifold instead!!! I had some replacement hose in the trunk, so I put a new piece in and was on my way.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing when firing up for the first (and second) time except I didn't tighten the fuel to carb connection enough.
Here the fuel WAS dripping directly onto the hot manifold, but that was instantly vaporised. I don't know what's more dangerous. But I sure was glad I had a HUGE fire extinguisher at hand for the, just in case I forgot something, moments. :roll:

Rinke
 
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