Well, not quite that bad, although the potential was definitely there...:shock:
I was driving over to a relative's on Sunday - a cold yet sunny and dry morning; I thought I'd take the Pulsar out to stretch its recently under-used legs. About a mile into the journey, the wife looks across at me and says "Can you smell that?"; a long deep inhalation through the nostrils confirms her suspicions - the normally intoxicating smell of fresh unleaded, which always becomes a bit less appealing when you can smell it inside the car.
Pulled over in the first side turning we came to, then jumped out and ran round to lift the bonnet. Only to wish that I hadn't bothered, as from within the depths of the engine bay a neat plume of pressurised fuel leapt onto the front of my jacket. A hurried yelp of "TURN THE SODDING ENGINE OFF!!!" put an end to the repeated petroleum-based assault upon my person, after which my good wife and I both moved hurriedly to the far side of the pavement, awaiting the impending fiery inferno that thankfully never came......
The culprit? A small split in the seam of the inline fuel filter, something I had meant to replace when I first bought the car back in September, but then totally forgot about until this rather aggressive reminder:
A brisk walk home and a rummage through the mechanical graveyard that is my shed paid dividends - a small piece of 8mm brass pipe, which I managed to put in place of the homicidal fuel filter until I could get the car home. One new Nissan OE spec filter ordered for collection ASAP.
If I have learned anything from the experience, it's this:
Turn the engine off before investigating possible fuel leaks :doh:
I was driving over to a relative's on Sunday - a cold yet sunny and dry morning; I thought I'd take the Pulsar out to stretch its recently under-used legs. About a mile into the journey, the wife looks across at me and says "Can you smell that?"; a long deep inhalation through the nostrils confirms her suspicions - the normally intoxicating smell of fresh unleaded, which always becomes a bit less appealing when you can smell it inside the car.
Pulled over in the first side turning we came to, then jumped out and ran round to lift the bonnet. Only to wish that I hadn't bothered, as from within the depths of the engine bay a neat plume of pressurised fuel leapt onto the front of my jacket. A hurried yelp of "TURN THE SODDING ENGINE OFF!!!" put an end to the repeated petroleum-based assault upon my person, after which my good wife and I both moved hurriedly to the far side of the pavement, awaiting the impending fiery inferno that thankfully never came......
The culprit? A small split in the seam of the inline fuel filter, something I had meant to replace when I first bought the car back in September, but then totally forgot about until this rather aggressive reminder:
A brisk walk home and a rummage through the mechanical graveyard that is my shed paid dividends - a small piece of 8mm brass pipe, which I managed to put in place of the homicidal fuel filter until I could get the car home. One new Nissan OE spec filter ordered for collection ASAP.
If I have learned anything from the experience, it's this:
Turn the engine off before investigating possible fuel leaks :doh:
