Diesel Leak

[jeagles]

I recently bought an Oday 31. Took 2 buckets of saturated fuel cloths out of bilge. Mechanic examined engine and said leak must be from tank. I cannot see or feel any fuel from hoses or filters. Just got tank out today, cleaned it up and filled with water. No leak! Has anyone found a leak anywhere else? Not sure where to look next

 

[anchorclanker]

An old aircraft mechanic always spoke about how weird fuel was, how it can wick up a rope, etc..

A pinhole leak in a hose sometimes wont drip, but will seep along the hose to a low spot, or wick onto an engine and seep around and down to the lowest reaches, and may never actually "drip". But if its a leak, its gotta be wet somewhere. Wipe all the lines and hoses off with a rag/towels, and keep watching. You may also have to run it to see the leak if its coming from the pressure side. You could have a leak at the pump, a cracked injector line, a loose line fitting, leaking injector, none of which will show up if the engines not running.

 

[DeniseO30]

fuel tank, it sits on plywood, gets porus with age, plywood gets soaked, slowly wicks down into bilge. how do I know? lol

 

[jeagles]

Anchor 7 Denise
Thanks
going to do big cleanup of engine and compartment. will upgrade hoses. with engine clean i should be able to spot any drips. fuel pump is dry and I tied paper towels at lowpoints of hoses- no joy. 2 buckets of fuel soaked cloths is a lot of drips!!
Jim

 

[RAD]

Don't forget the return line back to the tank and don't rule out maybe someone over filled the tank or the tank sending unit was leaking.......also try and apply some pressure to the water filled tank

 

[SailingCal21]

As long as you have the tank out, inspect it closely for signs of surface corrosion. I agree with Denise.