Fuel leak… again

Well I got the leak at the front end fixed up and yes it cost me.  About $800 all in.  I’ll have to look at the invoice but it was essentially the steering control box and it couldn’t be re-built. 

Friday night I had planned to go camping out to Two Jack Lake as I was going to assist with a scuba class on the weekend.  I figured rather than drive back and forth from Calgary I’d camp and save myself some time and aggravation.  I left work @ 3:30ish on Friday afternoon and was ready to hit the road.  I drove home and started packing up the bus.  Now let me take you back to Wednesday… I was driving past the local A&W and there was a group of older cars there.  I stopped to have a look and they were as interested in the Westy as I was in the old Vette that was there.  One of the guys commented that he smelled gas… not I had just filled up the bus and a little bit of fuel splashed down the side so I thought nothing of it…   Flash forward to Friday again…

As I was packing up the back of the bus guess what I smelled…

So I looked under the bus and didn’t really see anything at first but the foam gasket that surrounds the engine compartment had a discoluoration.  I poked it with my finger and gas started flowing out.  I unpacked the van and started looking around the engine compartment with my flashlight to track down the leak.    Problem found!   It was fairly accessible and it looked like a simple repair.  So armed with a screwdriver and a piece of replacement hose I started the repair.  It took me a couple of tries to secure the hose without it leaking on me but I did it.   My first driveway repair on the Westy!!!  I’ll post pictures later on tonight or tomorrow for those of you that want to take a look and critique my repair job.

So feeling supremely confident and reeking of gas I had a quick shower, packed up the van and headed to the mountains.  I had a great weekend camping and no other problems with the Westy.  Did 4 dives over the Saturday and Sunday and helped certify 3 divers in their Drysuit specialty and 2 divers became Advanced Open water divers.   All in all good times.