close call!

[psychrunner]

I had a rather harrowing experience this evening. Took the coupe out for a spin. Was about a mile into it, smelled very strong odor of gasoline. Decided to pull over rather than my first inclination to try to "run it out". Glad I did. Gas was pouring out of the engine bay area. Turned out to be a burst fuel line. Wow, that could have been bad if I had not pulled over. Particularly if the engine had been any hotter. A guy on a 4 wheeler was just going by (I pulled into a new industrial area) and he was a mechanic. Diagnosed it immediately and put a new line on for me. The car then ran horribly, but after loosening the gas cap (air trapped in line?), back to normal. I think I need to carry a fire extinguisher Just in case.
psychrunner

 

[shanon]

Yep, a fire extinguisher is a good thing. Got one at OSH for $10 bucks.
Put one in 'just in case' for my coupe's first big trip this weekend....hate to see three years of labor/love go up in flames :shock:

-shanon

 

[bengal taiga]

fuel leak

Experienced a leak near the fuel pump under the car. Don't want to ever repeat that.

Forgive me for dwelling on the obvious, but since you have an injected model, I would want to be sure that the replacement hose is rated for high pressure fuel injection. Its one thing to have an extinguisher on hand. Its quite another to actually use it! :wink:

 

[jmackro]

Well, all's well that ends well.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to change ALL the fuel lines. They don't last forever. I've owned my coupe for 19 years now - it's hard to keep track of when I last changed some of the soft parts (how old IS that fanbelt?). A good arguement for totally restoring your car every 7 or 8 years.

I'm puzzled by the rough running problem after replacing the hose. Was the leaking hose on the suction side, or pressure side of the fuel pump? MAYBE air in the line between the pump and the tank would result in vapor lock, but I'm skeptical - I'll bet that line drains back into the tank everytime the car sits for more than a few hours.

A lot has been written about fire extinguishers, and I'm no expert. I know that Halon is the preferred type for automotive use - not dry chemical. Naturally, Halon is big bucks, while dry chemical is cheap. I'm betting that a $10 OSH extinguisher is not Halon. Certainly better than nothing, but it'll make a mess if you need to use it.

 

[steve in reno]

I have a 10lb ABC under the drivers seat.
I don't think that the mess would stop me from pulling the trigger if a fire happened.
Even if it ruined the paint, that's still better than lossing the car.
steve

 

[Bill Riblett]

Re: fuel leak

Forgive me for dwelling on the obvious, but since you have an injected model, I would want to be sure that the replacement hose is rated for high pressure fuel injection. Its one thing to have an extinguisher on hand. Its quite another to actually use it! :wink:

If you can't verify that the all the rubber fuel hoses are the correct high pressure hose for fuel injected engines, replace them all. Correct BMW is about $30 a meter, cheap compared to any engine fire.

Anyone else with a CSi should do the same.

 

[psychrunner]

Yes,
when I went to the parts store, the manager was (thank goodness because I would not have thought of it) savvy enough to ask re: whether it was injected or carb, because he indicated he had a line designed for the pressure of the injected cars.
Randy