Diesel leak from #1 Inj. plug - pls help

[ricosuave]

Hi all,

Just got back from a 4 hour trip up north - the last 12 blocks to my house, I could smell diesel.  When I got home, and looked under the hood, I found some diesel had sprayed all over the passenger side of the valve cover and firewall area.  I had my wife run it for a second so I could see the leak - its coming from the little rubber cap, which has a crack in it, on the pass. side injector, which I think is #1.

So, besides the obvious, of buying a new little rubber cap, should I be concerned that there might be a chance that my newly installed timing belt may have been hit?    

I pulled the corner of the cover of the tb, the one closest to the spray, but cant say for sure - i mean it looks ok, but it was getting dark and I had no light.  thats what the covers for, right?

WTF would they put a little rubber cap, like one that looks like the white protective ends on newer white closet organizers?!?!

Thank goodness I was that close to home and not 4 hrs north...

rico

[ricosuave]

BTW, as it says in my post, 97 Jetta, 1.9 IDI

[ricosuave]

i believe it to be coming from the fitting right off the injector, but i think its the one in this post:

http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=95&highlight=

and its the last one one the pass. side, so it doesnt have the 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 4 hoses, its capped off with a little rubber plug that had a crack in it.

i rinsed the sprayed area off with water, not sure if anything else major got hit, but i rinsed off everything rubber to be on the safe side.  btw, i didnt get the tb cover or innards, in case you were wondering.

im going to let it all dry for a day or so, at least until I hear back from my mechanic, or get some advice from you all!

thx,
rico

[ricosuave]

no-one?

[dieselweasel]

That's the number one injector you're talking about.  Cylinders are always numbered from the front of the engine.  Just go to the dealer and buy a new cap...they're only about 2 bucks at most.  I suspect that your cap was not original because mine and its replacement were just a little black piece of rubber.  Just give the timing belt a good look/feel to see if it absorbed any fuel by feeling if it's soft.  I expect that the belt will be ok due to the nature of material it's made of and the short time that the cap was leaking.  The cover was on it as well so not much fuel could have gotten on it.

[ricosuave]

thanks - what about the other hoses - coolant, a/c, etc. and the cv boot rubber, or even the tire?

thx,
rico

[toomanycars]

Relax. Diesel is OK. As long as you have sprayed it with water it won't do any harm. If you're still concerned, a little degreaser won't hurt. In the trade we clean engines with diesel and hose off to remove it.

[ricosuave]

well, i replaced the cap and all the hoses to be on the safe side - cleaned the engine with simple green - timing belt area did not appear to be affected - all is ok for now.

thanks all.

rico

[chrissev]

thanks - what about the other hoses - coolant, a/c, etc. and the cv boot rubber, or even the tire?

thx,
rico

regular diesel won't hurt any rubber that it drips on.  Bio diesel, on the other hand, is a different story.  Have you been running regular or bio in your car?

[ricosuave]

regular.

didnt know that.

i replaced the injector hoses and rubber cap - thats all - not every rubber hose!

thanks anyway!

btw, i needed to do an engine degrease!!

rico

[chrissev]

bio turns regular rubber to mush.  Now you know.

[fspGTD]

regular diesel won't hurt any rubber that it drips on.  Bio diesel, on the other hand, is a different story.  Have you been running regular or bio in your car?

Regular diesel for sure can damage certain types of rubber.  And if you don't get it off manually, it sure doesn't evaporate off by itself like gasoline does!  For example, it for sure can damage the rubber in radiator hoses.  This type of rubber will swell when exposed to diesel or engine oil over time, which is a sign that is has been broken down by the fuel/oil.  As a rule of thumb, any rubber that looks swollen after oils and or solvents have come in contact has sustained damage as a result of contact with the fuel.

Note that there are several kinds of rubber.  Only some of them (including whatever it is that fuel lines are made out of) are fuel and oil resistant.  I found a brief listing of the various types and description of which are fuel resistant here:
http://www.gummi-technik.de/international/rubber-elastomers-properties.htm