Alfetta piddling fuel and god knows what else

[ckeen74]

Well, I finally got the front end of the Alfetta GT up on jackstands to find out why it's leaking some kind of oily fluid. As I was lifting it up by the front crossmember, gasoline started pouring out, so naturally I did the clever thing and got under the car... looks like the fuel is running out of the dummy bell-housing, which seems impossible to me. I looked around once it stopped leaking out, and I can't see any fuel lines anywhere. Can one of the more Alfetta-knowledgeable shed some light on this?

[sidewaysalfa]

There are 2 hard fuel lines (supply and return) running from the fuel pump area, underneath passenger side, up towards the fuel filter. They are along side the bell housing as they head up towards the fuel filter.
Rubber line connects the supply line to the fuel filter. Another rubber line connects the FI pump return to the return hard line.
Spray some cleaner stuff all over that area and wait for it to dry.
Take out some life insurance, payable to Sidewaysalfa.
Turn the fuel pump on and search for the leak.

[ckeen74]

I was unable to get the fuel pump going since my battery is dead; however, I did manage to lift the front end enough to get the car leaking again, and the supply and return lines are completely dry. I traced them, and they don't seem to be running anywhere near the bellhousing - they run outside the "frame rail" that runs along the bottom of the car. I will charge the battery next and see what I come up with.

Or does someone have other suggestions in the meantime? If you've faced a similar problem, and maybe even solved it, please let me know.

[VintageRob]

Are the fuel injection lines dry where they connect to the injectors? Seems like the last one may run down around the bell housing if it is leaking….

[VintageRob]

Ah.... check that.... It's leaking when it's not running.... Hmmmm....

[ckeen74]

Well, I tried everything including running the car in its parking spot. Nothing generated the leak, until I finally decided to drive it out of the garage and put some gas in the tank. As I was driving out, I could see a familiar trail behind me. So I turned back... I've now replaced the flexible fuel lines going into the blue filter canister, and coming out of the SPICA pump, just for the sake of eliminating them as a cause. The car now pours out fuel every time I run it.

I'm going to have it towed to a mechanic tomorrow, unless someone has a good suggestion of what else to consider. Fuel is still running down from the center of the car, not from where the hard lines run outside the frame rail.

As usual, any suggestions for getting this thing back on the road would be much appreciated.

[mjr]

is the leak from the front or back of the car? have you used leak detector developer yet?

[ckeen74]

Leaking from the front - at the dummy bellhousing.

Not sure what leak detector developer is - I have a suspicion it's running down from the fuel lines across the cross member and out at the dummy bellhousing somehow, but I'm not sure, and I can't really see that much fluid on the cross member that I would believe my own suspicion. If you think this stuff would help, I'd love to hear how.

Thanks.

[GVVGTV6]

This is a no brainer, unless you've done them in the past few years - replace all the fuel lines. It's smelly but it isn't that difficult or expensive - or have your mech. do it. It just isn't worth the risk of having your car go up in flames. And replace all the lines at once, because just as you replace the one you know is leaking, a month later another will go bad, and then another, and another ...

GV

[mjr]

GVVGTV6 has your answer. on a car of this age, if one line is going bad, the rest will follow. apart from the solid lines , which are easy to make up, the rest are flexible, you can buy lengths of it. Replace all of them, its easy, a days work at the most.

[catsboy]

to check. Is there fuel in your oil? As in, you have mostly fuel mix leaking from your rear main seal? I have had a Spica dump so much fuel into the pan that I could no longer call it an 'oil' pan . With that , there was fuel/oil mix pouring from every seal, including the mains. On a good note, once the Spica pump was replaced and the oil changed, the seals dried up and quit leaking...

[La Voce]

YES replace them all- the one that runs across under the rear of the car from the tank outlet on the driver's side over to the pump on the passenger side was so dry rotted on mine it literally split apart in my hand when I tried to replace the fuel filter.

[ckeen74]

Luckily catsboy, it isn't leaking from every seal, so I'm hoping that's not the problem.

And La Voce, judging by the look and feel of most of the hoses, they've been replaced fairly recently (during the PO's tenure). Not sure if he replaced the metal lines though, and that's why I've had the car towed down to my mechanic.

At this point I'm fed up of seeing the car sitting there, and my (admittedly limited) unsuccessful attempts... and I'm sure my neighbors feel the same, since technically, I'm not supposed to do any repairs. I think I'll use the time saved to wash the other two cars and clean up the Alfetta's parking spot. If I remember to do it, I'll give an update on the fix when it's done.

Thanks!

[ckeen74]

Well, my worst fears have come true - fuel in the oil, leaking out the rear main... mechanic says it's a bad pump. I guess I'm on the hunt for a good used pump, then I have to brace myself for that bill and the bill for 5-6 hours' labor.

My only faint glimmer of hope is that Eddie (my mechanic) says Larry Jr. at APE told him you can remove the SPICA oil filter, and there's a pressure release valve in there that you can you can hit, then disconnect the fuel pump and crank the engine over to build up oil pressure. Have any of you heard of that method? Although I'm thinking with working around the air pump that it might be just as much labor to hedge my bets and just replace the thing.

[ckeen74]

Has anybody got experience with getting a known-good SPICA pump from APE?

Thanks!