hi everyone,
long time lurker - this forum has been a great source of help to me over the years.
but now i have a problem, and after searching and not finding anything, i need to ask for your help.
all of a sudden on sunday my car started to smell strongly of petrol - both inside and outside (only at the NSR corner).
it also took a few turns for the engine to fire up - which never happens, it has always just fired up straight away with no hesitation.
looking under the car there was a small but obvious pool of fuel dripping from the area of the fuel tank.
i remember that i'd seen (most likely on this site) that you can access the fuel tank via the rear seats, so i took them out, and removed the inspection cover to find a big pool of fuel all around where the filter is where it goes through into the tank - i just figured the filter was knackered so i ordered a new one and thought i'd solved it.
but today it suddenly hit me that - we live close to a river and in winter we get a problem with rats in the driveways - last year i had to rat-proof my engine bay as best i could as they kept setting up home in there - so i wondered if they could somehow have gotten to the fuel filter area.
i've just been out to check, and sure enough:
1) the puddle of fuel has evaporated - leaving obvious signs (twigs, leaves and stuff) that rats have been there.
2) they had chewed through 2 of the wires on the filter connection (which was causing the car not to start) - managed to twist them back together and electrical taped them up and now, thankfully, the car starts.
3) i started the car and checked the filter - and found that there are 2 small holes with fuel coming out of the line a couple of inches before where it connects with the filter, where the rats have evidently been chewing the line - its a sufficient enough amount to cause the puddle at the filter and the dripping under the car.
so after all that life story - what i want to know is - how do i go about repairing / replacing the things that the bastard rats have been chewing?
can i replace a section of the fuel line?
can i use something to safely repair the holes in the pipe?
how should i fix the broken electrical wire - or will twisting and taping back together be ok?
sorry for the long, boring first post.
many thanks in advance for any advice / opinion.
Jah Bless.
long time lurker - this forum has been a great source of help to me over the years.
but now i have a problem, and after searching and not finding anything, i need to ask for your help.
all of a sudden on sunday my car started to smell strongly of petrol - both inside and outside (only at the NSR corner).
it also took a few turns for the engine to fire up - which never happens, it has always just fired up straight away with no hesitation.
looking under the car there was a small but obvious pool of fuel dripping from the area of the fuel tank.
i remember that i'd seen (most likely on this site) that you can access the fuel tank via the rear seats, so i took them out, and removed the inspection cover to find a big pool of fuel all around where the filter is where it goes through into the tank - i just figured the filter was knackered so i ordered a new one and thought i'd solved it.
but today it suddenly hit me that - we live close to a river and in winter we get a problem with rats in the driveways - last year i had to rat-proof my engine bay as best i could as they kept setting up home in there - so i wondered if they could somehow have gotten to the fuel filter area.
i've just been out to check, and sure enough:
1) the puddle of fuel has evaporated - leaving obvious signs (twigs, leaves and stuff) that rats have been there.
2) they had chewed through 2 of the wires on the filter connection (which was causing the car not to start) - managed to twist them back together and electrical taped them up and now, thankfully, the car starts.
3) i started the car and checked the filter - and found that there are 2 small holes with fuel coming out of the line a couple of inches before where it connects with the filter, where the rats have evidently been chewing the line - its a sufficient enough amount to cause the puddle at the filter and the dripping under the car.
so after all that life story - what i want to know is - how do i go about repairing / replacing the things that the bastard rats have been chewing?
can i replace a section of the fuel line?
can i use something to safely repair the holes in the pipe?
how should i fix the broken electrical wire - or will twisting and taping back together be ok?
sorry for the long, boring first post.
many thanks in advance for any advice / opinion.
Jah Bless.