h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

1. Any petrolheads want to confirm (or otherwise) this please.

For a couple of weeks I've been finding a patch of liquid underneath the old car when I've driven it off. I thought it was oil at first so have been keeping a close eye on the oil level.

But... it's also been kind of hard to start too...

So I did a proper(ish) investigation today - I jacked it up and put it on some axle stands and found no leak at all. So I started the engine.

And it started leaking, quite a lot. The liquid was colourless but smelt oily/petrolly.

I collected some and .... it's really very flammable indeed.

That'll be fuel then yeah?



Or are there any other extremely flammable liquids in cars. I can't think of any. I don't particularly consider oil to be extremely flammable (you can't hold a lighter to it and watch it flash).


2. Supplementary question. With the engine on, and the car in neutral the front wheels were spinning. Although I could stop them with my hand - they started again when I let go.

This shouldn't happen should it?





And yes, it is going straight into the garage tomorrow. I'm not really very happy driving it now that I know/suspect what the leak is now mind you

1) Yup - it's a fuel leak... Having said that, it's worth having a quick look yourself before you take it into the garage... Especially if you're not 100% sure of the absolute honesty and ability of the garage...

If you can take it in and say "look - there's fuel leaking from this pipe" - replace it! - Then it'll save you from the nasty surprise if they replace not only the leaking pipe but also decide to replace half your fuel system with it.

2) OUCH! Could be expensive... depending on how long the clutch has been dragging then you could be looking at a new clutch plate... (at the very least.

How much is the car worth?

Sounds like a hole in your fuel line. Might not actually be the worst thing in the world.

The spinny wheel thing might be a worn clutch or it could simply be something as simple as poor balancing.

B

Fuel leak could be in a fuel line or the tank.
Good luck with that - it could prove expensive.
Make them show you where the leak is. It could
be the fuel pump if that isn't in the tank or
anywhere along the fuel lines. The fuel will
flow along the outside of the lines before it
drips off so be sure they know the source and
not just where it is finally succumbing to gravity.

The rotating drive wheels is quite normal. If you
can stop them by hand there isn't much force or
torque coming at them directly thru the driveline
it's just a sort of sympathetic flow of energy.

That doesn't sound very technical or credible
but I can't think of how to explain it better; just
be assured that it sort of happens when the engine
is running and the wheels are off the ground. They
are free to turn from some residual energy that is
passing from the flywheel and clutching mechanisms
but it isn't very much if you can resist it by hand.
If it was in gear you'd never be able to resist it
and you'd have skinned your hands quite badly.


~jwf~

Cheers guys. I have a trustworthy guy who does my car so I'm fairly safe from being ripped off .

Oh and I replaced the clutch last year.
That's new. And yes, it was expensive!
having done some googling of my own I'm no longer worried about the wheel spin thing. What jwf said seems to be mostly the consensus.

The place I use has a policy of showing you the old part if they replace something so they don't replace things unnecessarily.

Do let us know what you find.
Always curious about leaky bits
and the solutions recommended.
I have a couple of old British cars.



-jwf-

Shame mine's a Honda

Light the dripping fuel and follow the flame back to the source to identify the problem

>>>Always curious about leaky bits and the solutions recommended. I have a couple of old British cars.

Here's the perfet solution... Don't buy old British cars!








Says the owner of a leaky 1978 MG Midget.

It's quite easy to not buy British cars these days to be fair

Purely from a safety view, if you have a fuel leak, then I would not drive it. The reason is that should the fuel come into contact with sowthing hot (Exhaust pipe for example) then you will have a pretty major fire on your hands.....this happened to a guy I used to work with and his car completely burned out.

Well I just had the garage on the phone.

£60 all in. Just a corroded fuel line.

Good result.

Well that's what I thought once I found out what it was. To be honest though, I've been driving it around like this for about 3 weeks - I just thought it was a small oil leak at first.
So I took the risk this morning taking it straight to the garage.

Glad to hear it's fixed and didn't cost a mint.
Thanks for the update.

~jwf~

*flashes his lights at Whisky*
http://www.britishmotoringfestival.com/