Can we talk about that moment when a fuel line lets go at 2 AM on the side of I-10 outside Houston?

I was pulling a old reefer trailer back to the yard when the return line on the injector pump just split open, spraying diesel everywhere, and I had to patch it with a piece of rubber hose and two zip ties just to limp it 30 more miles.

3 comments

3 Comments

uma_nguyen242mo agoMost Upvoted

@abby189 actually got it twisted a little - that return line went straight to the ground so I had to keep a 5 gallon jug in the cab and pour it back in every 10 miles or so. By the time I hit the yard my arms smelled like diesel and I was cussing that zip tie patch every bump in the road.

abby1892mo ago

That "patch with a piece of rubber hose and two zip ties" is EXACTLY the kind of fix that either gets you home or starts a fire. Did you have to keep refilling the tank every few miles because the return line was dumping fuel on the ground, or did you get lucky and find a way to reroute it? I'm just wondering how much diesel you watched disappear before you finally limped into the yard.

jamienguyen23d ago

Respectfully disagree with @abby189 here, that hose and zip tie fix got me 40 more miles without a single spark or leak, and I'd trust it over half the parts at auto zone any day.