All,
I had Peterson CAT in Portland replace my line between the primary fuel filter and lift pump. Wow, what an extravagant repair that was. Total cost was 760.00 including 6 HOURS and about $160.00 in parts. I think I should have looked up the parts Dave mentioned. I think he pointed out the parts needed for the new hose.
When they called me, a day after I dropped it off, they told me that they took a couple of mis-directions in acquiring proper plastic fuel line (from freightliner I think he said) and that tomorrow (which was a Friday - I dropped it off on Wednesday before noon) they would put the new fuel line on. I asked about the bill (as I'd not received an estimate) and he said he though $500 to $600. I was surprised, thinking maybe $400.
They called me Friday afternoon and said "all done". I went in and the service manager told me (as he handed me the bill) that it actually "cost more than what I am charging you but I couldn't justify that expense". So I look at the bill and its not $500 or even $600, rather its $756.00. He explained to me that it was quite an intricate job (I bet!!!) because the new plastic line was stiff unlike the old hydraulic line. He said they had to use a "special elbow".
As I approached the coach I really expected to see 6 hours worth of very intricate work, but when I flipped up the rear engine access, I quickly found the new shiny fitting starting right at me (I didn't even know where the life pump was and now I do). So, I looked at the new line and essentially that line starts at the lift pump with a straight on connector, heads to the left and does a single 1/2 spiral in mid air back towards the filter bay. At the filter bay it appears that they may have chinked away some of the bay to route the line to the primary pump (perhaps to fit the new connector through) and YES that connector appears to be a right angle connector. Oh, and then the invoice says they steam cleaned the engine and filter bay (not very well done in the filter bay as I mopped up diesel/water mixture throughout.
So, in 6 hours (more according to the service manger - I just didn't have to pay for it) over a 48 hour period, they removed the old line (2 connectors right?), had to figure out how to keep the fuel contained (which I believe is the hardest part but its probably easy if you're a pro), THEN they had to use their professionalism to have a new line constructed that would work. This evidently is where these pros fell down miserably for HOURS.
At this time there is no evidence that I replaced a failing line as indicated in this thread but I have yet to cut into it to inspect it. They didn't find any evidence on their part (but thank goodness I didn't ask them for a forensic report on it).
For other owners of this era SMC Coach, I urge you to submit a parts list to Caterpillar or other shop as I should have done. I think Dave gave that parts list out but I am not sure - I haven't gone back to review this thread. I'll look and see and if not (my memory sometimes slips me up) I will provide the parts list they showed on my billing.
Bottom line there is absolutely NO REASON to spend 6 hours changing out a single 4-5 ft hose as a professional in my opinion. That is not professionalism which is what I thought I was paying for. It was more like trial and error. Is this the state of professionalism in the world today?
Ok, I feel better now.
Mike