I walked out to my car. The puddle of fuel behind it was frustrating as I’d fixed a fuel leak early on during my ownership period with this particular machine. Now it seems fuel was leaking from a new spot. The car in question is my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 and the fuel leak occurred when I left the car parked for two weeks in the same spot.
Nose pointing up. The car was sitting on a hill outside of my condo complex. I didn’t notice the leak at first, so I fired the car up and took it for a drive. While out, I stopped at the gas station to fill up. Then I returned home and parked in the same spot. Later I came back out to the car and noticed a very slow, small drip from the rear end of the Benz.
After a trip to O’Reillys for proper fuel storage containers and a suction pump, I pulled the Benz into my garage. On level ground, there was no leak. Curious. I let the car sit overnight with an empty catch tank underneath the spot from where I spotted the leak prior. The next morning? Dry as a bone. The leak stopped.
The next test involved putting the car back out on the street. This time I tried parking it nose down. No leak. I’ve since parked it in a variety of ways, and there’s still no leak. It seems leaving the car sitting nose up for two weeks isn’t ideal and the fuel lines could use a closer eyeball, but for now the problem is “solved”.
So what’s been your best non-fix fix?
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