Broke the Fuel Return/Leak Oil Line "Tee" doing a filter change - Ideas?

[220629]

Thanks for the pictures.

... Also how tight should the injector clamps be? They still spin when tight. Will the crack in the outer layer be a problem?

"Clamps"? Oops. The clamps on the hose. They can rotate a bit and still seal.

The little spring clips just hold the fitting into the bore for the O-ring to properly seal. The O-ring is the seal. It can wiggle a bit or spin and still be fine.

vic

 

[MBB]

Aqua Puttana, Thanks. It is assembled but I as people may remember put some reg gas in the tank. I drained it and just finished putting in 5 gallons of diesel back in. Horrible to fill with one of those new self venting tanks with the fire screen inside.

I pumped out a gallon or so of the new diesel to see if there was any gas in it. The color looks the same as the new thats still in the can. Maybe I will see if it will ignite. Should I fill the fuel filter with 2 stroke oil or some other lubricant to help lubricate whats going to be the first fuel going through after gas had been mixed with it? I have o come in side the wind and cold are brutal. No protection from the wind. Made screen with a blanket but little help.

 

[220629]

I might add some TWC3 oil to the tank. I would not try to dose it in the filter. For the petrol in diesel... the solution to pollution is dilution. Adding even more fresh diesel fuel would be something that I would do.

vic

 

[Flange]

Good job Mike, I agree dilution. I believe they recommend turning ignition key on for 10 seconds 3 times to get fuel in filter then start. Ciao Andrew

 

[MBB]

Ok, Finished installing everything and got van going again. Filled up with fresh diesel and runs fine. No codes. I'm glad I didn't do the the complete fuel line change it was to cold and windy. I think I will do a write up on it so others may learn the pit falls.

Thanks to Flange, Bigb, Aqua Puttana for their input.

 

[68protour]

I broke my T fitting yesterday. Used a small reverse tap with some heat from a heat gun and pulled both broken ends from hose. Ordered a brass fitting M-80 1169 from Flag North America. Going to clamp it on when it arrives.

Did the brass tee work? I'm almost thinking to just replace my unbroken plastic with brass while I have the van at home. Thanks

 

[gemcoska]

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread and this forum. I wasn't that careful removing the leftover plastic barbs and i think some debris is in the fuel line or something. I"m getting aggressive stuttering under acceleration in the 3,000-4,000 rpm range. Normal sunday driving is fine, but trying to accelerate out of an onramp while towing is a no go. I'm going to do the full fuel line, o-ring and #170, #220, #230 seal replacement to see if that remedies the problem. If you guys have other thoughts lmk. Not sure if this should be a different thread though.

Fyi unleaded fuel in my diesel put there by a friend borrowing the sprinter is the reason I broke the tee (pulling the return hose from the fuel filter).

 

[bigb]

Fyi unleaded fuel in my diesel put there by a friend borrowing the sprinter is the reason I broke the tee (pulling the return hose from the fuel filter).

Ouch. A good reason to have a locking fuel cap with no key for the borrower, just tell them to give you cash, or better yet don't loan it out. There are actually non diesel people out there who think in a pinch you can get by on gasoline just like you can get by with RUG instead of premium. It doesn't help that the news media has recently been calling it "diesel gas"

 

[gemcoska]

Ouch. A good reason to have a locking fuel cap with no key for the borrower, just tell them to give you cash, or better yet don't loan it out. There are actually non diesel people out there who think in a pinch you can get by on gasoline just like you can get by with RUG instead of premium. It doesn't help that the news media has recently been calling it "diesel gas"

That's definitely a consideration!

 

[viejo]

I broke my T fitting yesterday. Used a small reverse tap with some heat from a heat gun and pulled both broken ends from hose. Ordered a brass fitting M-80 1169 from Flag North America. Going to clamp it on when it arrives.

Broke the same Tee today. How did this end up working for you?

Thanks
viejo

 

[brained]

I have a View 16G with 20,000 on it. I made the infamous plastic tee snap on my first fuel filter change on Monday. I immediately started my search for this after I finished the filter replacement. This forum thread caught my attention which prompted me to call Cindy at Flag. What a wonderful person. She knew what I had done and had the part number off the top of her head and I placed the order first thing Wednesday morning. She said it may get to me on Friday. I also purchased a 5 piece Screw extractor set from Amazon for $10. On Thursday after I received the extractors I got to work removing the broken plastic barbed tubes from the supply lines on both sides of the Tee.
Here's what I did for that. I have pictures.
1. Drilled into the plastic tubes about 1/4" with a 7/64 bit so the 1/8" extractor could get a good start as I screwed it in by hand.
2. Put a smaller visegrip onto the fuel line just behind the point of the tube.
3. put the end of the extractor in my drill. be sure that drill was in reverse.
4. Started applying low heat from my $10 HF heat gun 2" from the fuel line for about 20 seconds.
5. Turned off the heat and slowly screwed in the extractor while holding the visegrip. The plastic tubes broke loose started turning free from the fuel line so I was able to pull them out. Success! (See pics)
Friday I received the new Tee from Cindy before noon! Amazing! Can't thank Flag North America enough. I installed the Tee with an ear clip on each side and popped it in and used the spring clip from the original plastic tee. I connected everything back up and turned the key on for at least 30 seconds until the system finished pressurizing. I then fired her up and checked for leakes of which there were none. No codes as of yet. I will let everyone know how things are going after I put more miles on.

 

[bigb]

So you did your research, studied up on the forum, made the fix and posted pics, and this is your first post here. You're going to get along great here, welcome!

 

[viejo]

That's basically everything I did back in February and its been running great ever since. I would often take a tissue on the end of a wand and wipe around the new tee checking for leaks and never did find any and now its been so long I don't even check anymore. Glad it worked out for you. viejo

 

[brained]

So you did your research, studied up on the forum, made the fix and posted pics, and this is your first post here. You're going to get along great here, welcome!

Thanks viejo. This forum is easy to search which brought me to the correct thread. There are are several other users that I need to thank as well for guiding me down my path for my particular situation. I mainly try to show any steps that could help others. Documentation is NOT my strong suit so I hope not to miss anything important. I look forward to learning more from all as I add on miles to my Sprinter.

 

[Tecni]

I’m in your same predicament but it being MLK weekend and I have to drive the work van on Tuesday, I don’t have much choice BUT to rig something up. I will however say that inside this plastic t-fitting I found 2 fine metal screens and a flow restrictor plate.

So clearly there’s more to this part than just being a t-fitting. If people are experiencing drivability issues, it hay be because there’s a need for that restrictor plate.

I will try to rig something and report back.