There went the weekend . . .

[zotz]

. . . in the shape of an oily smear on the road under the car. I'm not really about to go haring off anywhere with my fuel line leaking petrol, am I now? Hopefully a repair won't take too long. Or be too expensive.

On the upside, the Fire Brigade were very pleasant and suggested that turning it round so it was tilting the other way might slow the leak a lot, which it did.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/puzzle_/]

Ohhhh been there. Depending really what needs to be done, and the age of the car determines the price.

[http://users.livejournal.com/puzzle_/]

Mine conviently decided to pour out all over a petrol court for added excitement

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Ditto, with a split tank. I thought my old MG was taking rather a lot of fuel. More than the capacity of the tank, in fact, which resulted in rather soaked feet and forecourt.

[zotz]

Ouch. Happily mine's not as dramatic as either of those. I don't envy yuou that.

Still, if you're going to have a catastrophic leak, you might as well have it somewhere that'll be prepared for a spill on that scale.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Ah, the days when tanks were metal, and had welded seams. These days I suppose they're all plastic and I dare say much more hard-wearing.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

A fuel line is a relatively simple thing to fix - it shouldn't be too costly and it shouldn't take too long.

[http://users.livejournal.com/puzzle_/]

Unless it's the filler, on my old car (Mazda) it was too expensive to fix.

[zotz]

It's one of the lines forward from the tank, about halfway along the body. Of course, other bits, or maybe the brake lines, may by now be in need of attention. We'll see. The Day Of Scrapping will come sooner or later.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Well, by fuel 'line' I'm assuming that the fault has already been seen to be the pipe (or pipes) between the tank and the injectors. If the tank is involved it could get expensive, I suppose.

[zotz]

It has, yes. About halfway along the body.

[zotz]

Hopefully, yes. It being the weekend might possibly hold things up. We'll see.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I thought that happened to me once, but it turned out my housemate's boyfriend (the only person who had a dodgier car than me) had been parked in my spot all weekend and it was his oil pooled under my car.

[zotz]

A lucky escape . . . for you, at least. A friend came back one day to find the fire brigade had cut his leaky line to drain the tank. I was a bit worried they would do the same to me. Well, to the car, anyway.

[deeteeuk.livejournal.com]

On an unrelated note, do you remember telling me how anyone could wear any tartan? Do you know any sites that outline that argument? I've a feeling I'll need it very soon. Tried google, to no avail.

[zotz]

Well, this one scores by mentioning two genuine historians, but you may wish to gloss over the fact that Hugh Trevor-Roper ended up looking very silly when asked to authenticate Hitler's alleged diaries. It's a bit hardline, too. Anyone who mantions Hobsbawn gets points, though.


http://www.scottishtartans.org is fairly sound, overall. This brief introduuction's fairly good.

This article I rather like - Up until the industrialization of the tartan weaving industry and the romanticisation of everything Scottish in the nineteenth century, tartans did not have names, for the most part, and those that did were typically worn without much thought as to what it might be called in the tartan shop. People wore tartans they liked. Period. And you can feel free to do the same today. In fact, it's probably the most traditional thing you can do.

That being said, time does not stand still. Today, the tradition has evolved to the point where tartans are representative and symbolic. Tartans that represent clans are the most familiar, but tartans can also represent families, cities, states, events, businesses, individuals, occupations, you name it. When you wear a particular tartan, you are identifying yourself with whatever that tartan represents. Most people choose to wear a tartan that has some connection with their heritage. But the choice of which tartan to wear is entirely personal. There are no "requirements" to wear a tartan, no "authorizations" needed. You simply pick the tartan you want to wear, whatever your reason.

[joexnz.livejournal.com]

have space in my car if you need it

[zotz]

Cheers. Whether I end up going depends on how things pan out tomorrow. If I can decide while you're still around and have space left, then I may get in touch. Don't wait for me, though. Cheers.

[drpyrojames.livejournal.com]

I know this may be a bit of a challenge for you, but the answer may be soap. If you know where the leak is, work soap into the hole or joint and it will seal up the leak. works brilliantly for petrol leaks. :P

[zotz]

Excellent. I even have some soap handy . . .

Cheers!

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I hope you get it sorted in time.

[felishumanus.livejournal.com]

ok you win on car problems..ours got dinked by someones parking...but atleast it is still drivable

[technotom.livejournal.com]

Hey Mr. C, did you managed to get it sorted?

Is it flexible hoses or the metal pipe itself which is at fault? Are there one or two pipes / hoses which run from tank to engine?

I'd beware of soap - I've not tried it, but I'd expect it to melt if it gets anywhere near a source of heat (exhaust) and / or clog up the carb (or injectors) if any came adrift into the system. And its soluble in water. If you desperately need to affect temporary (bodged) repairs, use some decent, hard-drying, hard-wearing putty.

Nothing should be too expensive, the tank on my Capri was rusting very badly.. a second hand tank, including fitting, cost £50.

[zotz]

Not fixed yet, no. My usual garage think getting the pipe might be a problem . . .I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Friday evening was abad time for this, because nearly everywhere was closed on Saturday, and when I found somewhere open it was way too busy.