Forum Discussion

mexicanpiloto13's avatar
mexicanpiloto13
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2021

Fuel injector hose leak on Monaco with Cummins engine

One of the worst things that can happen if you're driving down the road in a class A motorcoach is to smell diesel fuel. it's happened to us twice and both times a crack or hole appeared in the fuel injector hose and sprayed diesel fuel all over the engine. We recently pulled into an RV park in Hot Springs Arkansas smelled diesel fuel went to the back it was dripping all over the ground all over our tow car & the back of the rig. With the engine shut off I called Good Sam road service and they said they were had to call 911 and dispatch fire engines. I said no you don't need to do that everything is OK now. he said don't dare start the engine I asked for a mobile mechanic and they said there were none. they were going to tow the rig in. I said there's no way you could get a tow truck up here so I had to cancel the dispatch. The RV park was irritated that we were blocking the entrance and said why don't you just start it, run it over to your space and then worry about it. I said no it could cause a fire and I refused. I then opened the back of the engine compartment, had my wife start the engine for about 5 seconds and could see right away where the fuelspray was coming from. Then went to an O'reilly's auto parts matched up the 5/16th gate's hose 4219bf and I cut out the part that was cracked, went to home depot got a 5/16th double end barb hose splicer # bhb-201anlb. And 2 small hose clamps. It was a messy job but I cut out the bad part spliced the fuel hose and it's working fine now to allow us to get home. It's all a dangerous situation but we felt helpless and nobody would assist.
  • Thanks to all. I will get the fuel line replaced right away upon getting home. We have driven about 2,ooo miles since the repair and it looks good. We do have the 8.3 engine. 135,000 miles
  • I had that same hose split, got a piece of 5/16 fuel injection line and fixed it. Also had one of the steel lines to an injector burst one time, I rolled it over, beat it flat and drove on home. Mechanic said I was lucky on that one that I didn't make a worse problem. Mine is an 8.3
  • What engine is it? There’s a large recall for the L9’s for high pressure fuel leak on the driver side of the engine.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    There are mobile mechanics.
    And GS towing can tow it to a certified shop.

    How to find a certified mobile mechanic.. now that.. is the problem. I knew one once but he retired.

    He was also not as good as I'd have liked but hey he was not working on MY engine... (I solved the issue for him and I did it by observation.. ask a key question and his great light dawned)
  • rhagfo's avatar
    rhagfo
    Explorer III
    ScottG wrote:
    I don't usually post here but this is a dangerous situation. If this really is an injector line, DO NOT DRIVE IT or even start it with a rubber hose patch. That line has thousands of pounds of pressure - depending on the year, 20,000 PSI or more.
    Cummins usually has injector lines in stock. You need to replace it properly and torque to spec.
    Don't get your skin or face anywhere near that bad line while it's running!

    If it's just a rubber hose that has failed, it isn't an injector line. The only rubber lines would be those before the high pressure pump. All the lines between the pump and injectors are metal - no rubber.

    X2
    If it is rubber then it before the injection pump. Every thing after the injection pump needs to be steel to handle the pressure.
    Fuel hose doesn’t usually split, likely chaffed on something and wore a hole in it. If it was cracked, I would get the entire hose replaced.
  • I don't usually post here but this is a dangerous situation. If this really is an injector line, DO NOT DRIVE IT or even start it with a rubber hose patch. That line has thousands of pounds of pressure - depending on the year, 20,000 PSI or more.
    Cummins usually has injector lines in stock. You need to replace it properly and torque to spec.
    Don't get your skin or face anywhere near that bad line while it's running!

    If it's just a rubber hose that has failed, it isn't an injector line. The only rubber lines would be those before the high pressure pump. All the lines between the pump and injectors are metal - no rubber.
  • Now either carry some hose or better yet, replace the six lines and you should not have an issue later on.
  • The problem is that nobody wants the liability of trying to fix something when it is not in a certified shop. At one time or another many of us have had to do a make shift repair on our rig to keep going. On your engine, the only thing I would worry about is if the repair can handle the fuel injector pressure.