QuestionWe had set off on a road trip yesterday, stopped to fill up the bus with gas. After the tank was full, fuel started dripping rapidly out of the drivers side. We opened the back andf found it to be dripping over the engine. After a little while it tapered off. So we headed home. Here's the rest of our symptoms.
1. I filled up a week ago and have only driven once only a few miles. It was only at a quarter tank when we set off yesterday which seems odd, but thought it might be a faulty gas meter.
2. When I filled up last week, when I was full a bunch of gas spilled out on the passenger side. We have noticed this same spilling over at certain gas stations and sometimes we are not able to fill up at certain stations as the gas spills out from the pump even when not full.
3. There has been a pretty strong gas smell in the bus, stronger than I remember in our last bus. I even notice that smell when were outside and the bus is parked. It's an aura of gas sort of.
4. We have been having difficulty firing up the engine, have to hold ignition and wait for a certain sound before hitting the gas. Seems intermittent as sometimes it fires right up.
5. Our particular bus has been rebuilt with a carburateur. Our mechanic says it's the wrong one and doesn't fit too well which sometimes can cause sputtering up hills and intermittent power losses.
6. We noticed a stronger gas smell after our mechanic did a lot of work on the exhaust closing up leaks and such, however the performance of the bus was way better after this, like night and day.
AnswerHi Stephanie,
There are 'riser' tubes that go up over the battery area into the the cavity in the corner of the engine area. These are vent lines for the fuel system.
There is a short length of rubber hose which often dries out and leaks with a full tank. Reach up into there and replace the line.
This is a dangerous situation and you should not drive it until repaired.
Good Luck.
Ron
