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Oswego John wrote:What is the fuel pipe made of? Copper, steel, aluminum, other material? It is probably not flexible hose if you call it pipe. You say that you sanded it.
If a pin hole shows now, other areas probably have wear on them, too. A new pipe is the safest way to go, (if you can locate one.)
It's steel as far as I can tell. The area where the hole is has considerable wear from the outside. Seems there's an abrasion point there and/or it's just a good spot for corrosion. The pipe wall is quite thin there as a result. What was a micro pin hole was easily expanded to a visible hole with the tip of a knife.
I'm pretty close to picking up a replacement but don't want to jinx the process by pretending the problem has been solved.
bill2 wrote:If I was in the middle of the ocean I might try to get by temporarily by improvising thusly -
if you're lucky you might just slip a piece of rubber " fuel line" over the fuel " pipe " then clamp directly over the the pin hole with screw type hose clamp(s) . Iffen you're lucky the rubber hose - under pressure from the screw clamp - will seal the fuel " pipe " temporarily while you secure a suitable permanent replacement . Of course too little pressure from the hose clamp and you'll still have the leak - on the other hand too much pressure can collapse the fuel pipe and it may be tough finding a suitable really small diameter screw type hose clamp ( a stainless clamp from an auto supply comes to mind ) . . .
My first try if zero other options were available would be a good wrap with Rescue Tape. The hole is between the fuel filter and the high pressure pump and so it's on the low pressure side of the fuel system. (I might try that anyway just for fun to see whether it would actually work as a temporary fix.)
Assuming I actually do get the replacement, I'll check the spot where the wear occured and be sure that there's no contact with other engine parts. (Perhaps some wraps of Rescue Tape as a chafe guard.)
Their pricing is high, but their inventory of used MD7A parts is impressive.
I did an online inquiry and got a phone call from Will at French Creek yesterday. He has one in stock that he said he'd send (i.e., "sell") me if I sent him back the old one so he'd have a pattern for the part. Otherwise, he said he'd be sending the one he had out for duplication.
I solved my problem with a spare I bought from Jack Ducas last night. But I give French Creek mention for their service.
As for my comment about Torresen sending the wrong part... the MD7A came with two injector pump configurations. I have one and they sent me the part for the other. (The parts list doesn't specify.) Not really their fault and as I said, their customer service, as well, was excellent.
I'm glad you worked it out with Torresen. While I haven't used them so far, they get good grades from others -- and I may be turning to them for parts if I decide to do more work on my own and store the boat at a different site this winter.
--Joe
Former Commodore, CDSOA
Former Captain, Northeast Fleet
S/V Crème Brûlée, CD 25D, Hull # 80
"What a greate matter it is to saile a shyppe or goe to sea."
--Capt. John Smith, 1627
