Help ! Fuel leak.!

[Weekend Warrior]

Went into the garage tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s oil change ,got all my bits ready ,had a poke around and decided to start her up .Im working away and with Christmas and all it’s not not been started for 4 weeks or so .I thought the battery may be flat,but no it fired up straight away ,anyway I sat with my foot on the throttle revving. It gently then sitting at 2000 revs to get it up to temp .after a while I could smell petrol so knocked it off and got out ,

‘There was a puddle of fuel on the drivers side just to the back of the wheel ,looking around I could see a fair bit on the fiberglass  body work under the throttle bodies ,which were dry As was the foam .Now don’t laugh but I looked everywhere and couldn’t find a leak ,in fact I couldn’t figure out what a fuel line was {if you can see them } .After the Westfield on fire video my A*** is a bit twitchy so the oil change is off until I can sort this out .

Any ideas what’s going on ,I don’t really want to fire it  up again {excuse the pun } until o know what’s going on .As it’s still the season of good will  Is there anyone in the area that could pop round and help me sort it .I would of course sort a case of beer to show my appreciation,but more importantly would learn a bit more ,I thought the oil change was challenging .

Im not back to work until Monday 

Thanks in advance 

Steve

[Thrustyjust]

Looks wet on the chassis rail. You have a fuel line at both ends of the injector rail and a regulator. I would check those for signs of fuel leakage.

[Weekend Warrior]

Thanks,as a well respected member it’s  good advice I’m sure but could you tell me where to look ,is the regulator the blue thing in this picture ,where should I be looking imagine your explaining it to your young son ,or nephew 

[wizzer]

Has a fuel pipe come of the fuel regulator the blue thing

[Thrustyjust]

Your 4 injectors ( with yellow labels on) bolt to the throttle bodies with a rail of fuel running behind them, behind the filter. Follow the fuel pipes either side of them. They then go to the back of the footwell on the drivers side, to then run under the car to the back. Check there too.

[Andy (Sycho)]

The fuel pipe is in the colvolt tubeing either end of the throttle bodies, also check the injectors are not leaking.

[Weekend Warrior]

3 minutes ago, Sycho said:

The fuel pipe is in the colvolt tubeing either end of the throttle bodies, also check the injectors are not leaking.

Thanks ,can this be done without taking. Things to bits ?

[Thrustyjust]

Convoluted tubing is 'usually' split down the side, to allow it to be peeled off the pipe . May need a cable tie or tape cutting back though.

[Andy (Sycho)]

If you just switch the ignition on & check all the joints to see if you can narrow it down first as it probably won't leak until it's under pressure.

[Weekend Warrior]

T

1 minute ago, Thrustyjust said:

Convoluted tubing is 'usually' split down the side, to allow it to be peeled off the pipe . May need a cable tie or tape cutting back though.

I think I’m getting it there’s a line in and out of the regulator so I can check them .If I take the tubing off and look does the rubber fuel line just plug on to an injector ? If so I should see a leak .The cars not that old so I’m thinking positive and hoping something has just come loose . 

The bit that worries me is that if I don’t see anything blindingly obvious I assume I have to turn the car on again to get pressure then look for the leak.At which point I will have fuel leaking out of an engine that’s running now as said I’m no expert but that ain’t good and seems like a 2 man job ,one with a fire extinguisher. Am I right 

[Andy (Sycho)]

You don't need to start the car just prime the pump by turning ignition on. 

[Thrustyjust]

Obscure that there is no visible wet pipework . Clear all the wet fuel off the floor . Then lay a few paper towels on the floor, turn the ignition to red. Dont start it, as Andy (Sycho) says. Quick look with a torch and see whats weeping. Thats a lot of fuel, so is probably under injection pressure.

[Andy (Sycho)]

The injectors come off the fuel rail they have the wires going to them with yellow tags, I doubt it will be those but it could be a perished o ring. More likely one of the jubilee clips needs nipping up.

[Weekend Warrior]

8 minutes ago, Thrustyjust said:

Obscure that there is no visible wet pipework . Clear all the wet fuel off the floor . Then lay a few paper towels on the floor, turn the ignition to red. Dont start it, as Andy (Sycho) says. Quick look with a torch and see whats weeping. Thats a lot of fuel, so is probably under injection pressure.

Thank for the advice so far ,from both yourself and @Sycho .

Andy was the first member I met and talked to ,he let me climb in through his cage [not too gracefully }and sit in his car }at  last year at Stonleigh ,seeing a car like that made my mind up and here we are.

Ive got 4 axle stands and a jack in preparation as I’ve been reading up on here ,so tomorrow I’ll get it up in the air and have a good look,when I said in my first post there were no visible leaks I didn’t know where to look so now I’m a bit more educated .Mr Thrusty What do you mean by under injection pressure .Does that mean that as the injectors work they pressures the fuel line and therefore show any weak spots ,

[Thrustyjust]

Your fuel pump, when the ignition is switched on, then pumps the fuel to a high pressure . Not sure on what the regulator is at ( blue thing) , but somewhere near 50 psi. The fuel travels along the fuel hose to the injection rail. This then feeds the injectors with 50 psi of fuel. When the car runs, the pressure of the fuel then, when the injector needs to feed the engine, opens and sprays/ vapourises fuel into the engine. The fuel pump will continue to pump fuel , to replace the fuel used, but to stop it over pressuring, it then gets to the blue 'pressure regulator' . This bleeds fuel back to the tank and since it is after the regulator, this fuel is at a lower pressure , as the pipe back to the tank has nothing to restrict it . The fuel then starts its return journey to the pump- pipe- fuel rail- pressure reg and back to tank .