fuel return line repair

[vanilla gorilla1]

discovered i have a fuel leak in my return line. i can see it spewing when its running. my question is what is the best way to get at the thing to replace it? any help would be greatly appreciated.

[glfredrick]

Originally Posted by vanilla gorilla1

discovered i have a fuel leak in my return line. i can see it spewing when its running. my question is what is the best way to get at the thing to replace it? any help would be greatly appreciated.

Scroll down the forum index to the tech articles for your year truck. There is an article there for the problem along with a TON of other great articles contributed by the members and vendors over the years.

[illflem]

It takes about 2' of 5/16" diesel rated hose and two new hose clamps.
Remove the fuel filter for easier access, good time to replace the filter.
The entire process has to be done by feel, I find it easier to cut the old hose clamps off rather than unscrew them.
It's tight getting to the rear end of the hose, you will get scars.

Return line in red

[21z05578]

Originally Posted by illflem

It takes about 2' of 5/16" diesel rated hose and two new hose clamps.
Remove the fuel filter for easier access, good time to replace the filter.
The entire process has to be done by feel, I find it easier to cut the old hose clamps off rather than unscrew them.
It's tight getting to the rear end of the hose, you will get scars.

Return line in red

Dead on the money its tight . Took me about 2 hours , if you chase the return line back to the drivers side/top of the bell housing youll see a better route once you see the start/stop point

[vanilla gorilla1]

turns out the best way for me to do it was to jack it up, remove the left front tire, remove fuel filter. i did that and the line was pretty easy to get at. thank you for the advice etc again.

[texasprd]

Vanilla, you must have stretchable arms like Gumby. I tried pulling the LF - couldn't reach anything from the fenderwell area. I already had the starter out for replacement, so that (and removing the fuel filter) made it slightly easier.

I deceided to do both lines, and it has been one of the more aggravating tasks I've encountered. Took forever to remove the return-line clamp under the intake box. Had to take my Dremel and a cutting disk to the Oetiker clamp on one end of supply line. The bleep(s) that came up with these fuel line routings should be bludgeoned to death with a P7100 pump.

Note: If you're going to do this, I strongly recommend going beyond J30R7 hose. Pumps in the San Antonio area are starting to show biodiesel-blend notices, and 30R7 hose is not biodiesel-rated so I wanted to be current/ahead and put on biodisel-compatible hose. If you can find it, go at least to J30R9. I couldn't find 30R9 at the chain stores in the SA area, but Car Quest stores do have J30R14 (barricade/barrier style).

21Z - what's the better route you mentioned?

[thecheese429]

Originally Posted by vanilla gorilla1

turns out the best way for me to do it was to jack it up, remove the left front tire, remove fuel filter. i did that and the line was pretty easy to get at. thank you for the advice etc again.

When fixing my fuel lines I did this method. It was made easier because I don't have a fender skirt installed on that side.

[vanilla gorilla1]

well i am very tall and have long arms. but really i think by removing the tire, cranking the wheel all the way left, taking off the plastic fenderwell cover thingy, i was able to reach up in there with relative ease. i think even someone of average height would be able to accomplish that pretty easy. the most aggravating thing ended up being that i had a hard time getting the fenderwell put back together.

[texasprd]

Originally Posted by vanilla gorilla1

...taking off the plastic fenderwell cover thingy...the most aggravating thing ended up being that i had a hard time getting the fenderwell put back together.

The plastic fender liner is the key - I didn't want to go through all that on top of dealing with the hoses. If I ever do this again, maybe I'll cut out a section of the plastic fender liner and replace it with an oversize piece of sheetmetal that I can hold in by a few screws.

[sootnsmoke]

Funny thing is I changed my fuel filter a couple weeks ago and afterward I thought I would take a look at everything from underneath. After surveying how various things are routed I remember saying to myself...I sure hope I don't have to replace those 2 rubber hose pieces. I was trying to figure how to get at them from above (with the new filter installed) and from below and came up with no answers. Man, the fuel routing on our 91 1st gen VE pump is so much more logical. I am not sure what is the better way to go, fighting the R&R of the plastic fender liner or just go at them from above after removing the fuel filter?