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Topic: If it ain't one thing, it's another... (Read 1004 times) previous topic - next topic

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

So I needed to make a short road trip... I wanted to change my oil first, just to be safe. All goes well until I try to get the filter off. That thing was on there so tight that I broke my filter wrench! I had a better one to try, and I bent that one up too. I slid a pipe over the wrench handle and I still couldn't budge it! Eventually, I got it by holding the wrench towards the top and beating the bottom with a hammer. That filter was cone-shaped when I was finished. That's the last time I let my friend change my oil. Good lord, he might as well have dunked that filter in lock-tite!

Anyway, true to my "never allowed to have a job finish on a happy note" nature, I got the new filter on, plugs back in, filled her up, and badda-bing done, right? Nope. When I started it up, something is dripping through the hole on the k-member on the driver's side. So while wrestling with that ^%#$^% filter, I must have broke something nearby. Either I broke the plastic oil line to my mechanical gauge, or one of the tranny cooler lines.

I didn't see the leak until I had let it down, drove to the back of my house, hitched up my trailer and pulled it out into the driveway. I can't see where it's coming from without getting back under it. And I am just colorblind enough to not be able to tell if it's oil or tranny fluid. The only thing that I knew for sure was red, was my face.

Lovely day. Oh well, still made the trip, I just used my wife's 65 fury instead of my cougar, and all went well.
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #1 –
Maybe oil from the oil filter dripped into the K-Member during your ordeal. You did put some oil on the filter gasket,right? Sounds like your friend didn't. Have a talk with him and tell him he owes you lunch.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #2 –
if it's that plastic line, trash it.. it's .. i only use the brass line they sell separate

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #3 –
Quote from: vinnietbird;343267
Maybe oil from the oil filter dripped into the K-Member during your ordeal. You did put some oil on the filter gasket,right? Sounds like your friend didn't. Have a talk with him and tell him he owes you lunch.

Nah, it's a pretty substantial leak. It made about a 6" puddle in about a 2 minutes of runtime. I can see it dripping through that hole in the k-member, I just can't see what's above it. I should have it figured out tomorrow. The windchill is ridiculous right now, and I am too much of a pansy to unhitch my trailer and pull it in the garage right now, lol.
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #4 –
Well, got under there today and found it's the fuel line. Rusted so bad that it looks like I borrowed it from the titanic. I wonder how I can replace that section... There's two lines, one pressure, one return (I don't know which is leaking, but they both look like they are from pre civil war times). This double section of line starts at the passenger side floor pan, runs across the k-member, then splits off (one goes up by the oil filter, where I must have bumped it, and the other goes up to the CFI). They both have those plastic-clip connectors on the ends. I bet I could remove the rusted section easy enough, and I could find some line, but how do I connect to those plastic pressure fittings?
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7
 

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #5 –
CFI lines ususally come in together on the pass side, however you must be working on the 83 and that may be different.  never seen a fuel line come over by the fuel filter at all.

to transition from the plastic pressure line to metalic line, i would suggest you just troll through the fittings in lowes ect and just figure something out.  that tool that narls the metal oem line that goes inside the plastic line is an odd ball tool that wouldnt really be worth buying , bet you'd never use it again.

you could bone yard it and find a couple good cfi lines and use those metal peices to get your tranistion done then inline brass splice new line up to your cfi.

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #6 –
if you're handy with a flaring tool and bending lines, i suggest buying all new line.. preferably aluminum, to eliminate the possibility of ever having this problem again

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #7 –
I have a few good inches of metal line on each end, near the plastic connector... So could I just cut it off there and use some kind of compression connector? That would be easy enough.
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #8 –
I know the auto stores sell a fuel line repair kit, it may be worth looking into.
FOXLESS!!

1994 Lincoln Mark VIII

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Reply #9 –
Welp, nobody (around here) sells a 1/4" duckbill fitting, or the tube end that fits in it. SOOOoooo I just chopped out the rotten section and double-clamped a piece of fuel injection hose over the good ends. It's just the return line, it shouldn't have much pressure. The supply line looked fine so I left it alone. At least it's back up and running!
CoogarXR : 1985 Cougar XR-7