1987 XJ6 fuel leak from engine compartment...
 

Hello! I'm brand new here after thoroughly lurking, looking through the impressive collection of insight here...

I have a lovingly cared for 87 XJ6 with 40k-ish miles on it. It gets stored in the (Buffalo) winter. We took it out to stretch her legs for the first time today, returned home, and noticed a severe fuel leak. It's leaking from the right front, almost behind the headlight, definitely worse when the car is pointed downhill. Far from being an expert mechanic, here's what I found...

- The only visible fuel residue is forward of the crankcase. Everything else seems clean and dry.

- The car had a pretty good once over and tune up a year ago, with no mention of any lines about to go.

- The only visibly broken thing we could find was (and here's where my lack of garage skills shows through) labeled differently on several websites. Some called it as a breather hose, a crankcase ventilation hose, engine breather cover, etc. When I search the part online for my model, a very different part shows up in most results. The one I have is bell shaped, with a large pipe clamp on the bottom, a smaller one on the side.

Being new here, I'm not sure if I can post pictures yet, but I'll try to add it at the bottom. My main questions are what the heck is that thing actually called
, and is it possible to have liquid fuel leak out of it if ruptured? My follow up question would be, if it's not coming from there, what would be the next likely culprit?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...f15e9c8f8.jpeg

Look for a length of hose that might be wet on one end. As your fuel pumps are in the trunk any lines forward of them is under pressure.

Rubber fuel hoses can be just fine in fall but mysteriously spring leaks over long winter lay-ups, especially if they've been on for a couple years. The rubber quits holding hands and cracks, just upstream of a clamp usually, allowing gas to escape through the cords. This sounds suspiciously like what happened to your car.

I don't have a Jaguar engine so I don't know what that component might be, but it Certainly shows no signs of gas leaking. I suspect it's a breather of some sort because of the oil residue around the large end, which would not be there if any gas was in the area.
(';')

Thanks for your quick reply! I'll give everything a second look, but the only moisture that was readily visible was around that part in the picture. Below, you can see how much was leaking while facing downhill on a 10 to 15 degree sloped driveway...

Hell, maybe it's just a leaky headlight.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...67bf93bbf6.png

That elbow is a breather hose, no fuel up there, however directly below it is where the fuel line runs from the fuel cooler on the ac across to the fuel rail, its two metal lines witha fairly short rubber hose between the two right under the breather!
Behind the headlight is the charcoal tank, sounds like.something has failed and its collecting fuel instead of vapors

Good catch :). Not many people know about that little section of 'joiner' hose. Probably 'cuz it's usually buried under a half inch of gunk.

Given the location of the gusher I'd say you're on the right track.

I've heard of (but never seen) cases where the fuel switch-over failed, causing one tank to over-fill, resulting in raw fuel being drawn into the charcoal canister. I guess the logical first step would be to watch the vapor canister with the engine running and see if gas is gushing out

Cheers
DD

So, two options:


1. Fuel cooler line. Why it is there perplexes me.
2. Charcoal canister, right behind outboard lamp.
fumes only should be there. So, something is amiss!


Urgent, Gotta fix that, pronto. Dire consequences
very possible.


Carl