Leaking Fuel Fill Hose

[Larry Fisk]

Hello my fellow Beavers, My diesel fill hose on the passenger side fill spout has started leaking. I just filled the coach and my wife noticed it dripping. My question is how much fuel approximately do I need to siphon out of the tank in order to replace this hose. I am parked at Outdoor Resort Indio and would like to be able to do this on my lot without making a mess. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Larry Fisk

[Lee Welbanks]

Larry, After you got done fueling is the hose still leaking? I would think that the hose is angled into the top corner of the tank. On our 06 it has a huge door on each side, open the door and all you see is tank, no hoses.
There has to be a hose clamp where the hose attaches to the tank I would loosen up the clamp and see if you get fuel leaking out, if you get fuel pump out enough until it stops, put some cheapo plastic painters sheeting under the tank for easy clean up.

[Edward Buker]

Larry,

If there is no other way measure the height of the tank, measure the height of the best guess leak point from the bottom of the tank. Divide the leak height in inches by the total tank height in inches and multiply that by the gallon capacity of the tank. Subtract that number from that gallon capacity of the tank and that is how much you need to pump out.

Later Ed

[Steve Huber]

Larry,
The fill hoses enter the tanks at about the 2/3 to 3/4 up from the bottom of the tank. I had a similar situation on my 01 Contessa and drove it back from the east coast keeping the tank 3/4 full max. It's fairly easy to see where the fill hose enters the tank if you crawl underneath. My leak was in the driver side fill hose and was impossible to get at without getting the coach on a lift.
Good luck, Steve

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

Larry
is there a basement skirting pannel right below the fill door?  The screws on the bottom can be remover and the pannel swings up.  Hold it out of the way with blue tape or similar.  The filler hose can be reached through the skirt opening.
Our 98 pat was like this and I didnt know about the pannel.  I used Gorrilla tape for two years.  When we traded it in they went over and replaced the filler tube in about an hour for about $100. parts cost.
In answer to your siphon question, ours stopped leaking after about 5 gallons unless the coach was listing to that side.

Keith

[Larry Fisk]

thanks for all the responses! The tank on my 2005 Thunder is not located behind an access door but is located over the front I Beam for the front axles. The hose on the passenger side is easy to reach and changing it should not be a problem. You are correct that it enters the tank in the side, but mine is near the top of the tank and then the spout angles up from there to where the hose attaches. I was thinking around 10 gallons would probably give me enough breathing room to do this but I was not sure. Ed, thanks for the calculation. I'll give that a try and see what i come up with. Thanks again for all the feedback. Now to do this without making a mess!!

[Lee Welbanks]

Larry,
As I said in a earlier post go get some painters plastic throws to put under you. Diesel fuel has a mind of its own and will go where and splash on everything.

[Larry and Heidi Lee]

How about a scenic 50 mile drive? That should do it...

[Larry Fisk]

Thanks again for your input, I'm afraid I am a wimp. Today my wife and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary! I wimped out and decided to have an RV repair service come to our lot to change out the hose. He came highly recommended. So we are in Cambria, California until Friday for a getaway and the RV guy is planning on replacing the hose while were gone. He is planning on pumping out some fuel to make this happen. So, I'm hoping all goes well and he knows what he's doing. He promised to call when it's all done to aleve my fears. My fingers and toes are crossed!! Thanks again for all your thoughts! I do appreciate being part of this family.

[Dennis Crawford]

All,
I had to replace both fuel filler hoses on my 2005 Monterey.  The reason for this is the way the filler hoses enter the tank. The hoses enter the tank about  1//3 to 1/2 way up the tank. So with fuel at this level, it sits in the hose. Not good. The location of the hoses also contribute to the fueling problem since you are pushing to fuel into tank.

Dennis

[Keith Duner]

Our 05 Monterey had a fuel leak on the right (passenger) side when we purchased the unit from a dealer.  Noticed it after parking in our  garage for a couple of days.  Leak would show under the coach, just right of the centerline, in front of the front axel.   We assumed the hose was the root cause.  It went back to the dealer 3 times before it was repaired (on their nickel).  Turned out that the pipe fitting that entered the tank (and received the hose from the fuel fill on the right side) was leaking.  The first two failed repairs were attributed to using the wrong pipe sealant on the fitting, allowing the fuel to eat away at it and start to leak again after a matter of days.  The last successful repair was using a sealant designed to work with diesel fuel.  Unfortunately I never saw any of the parts or the materials used, just relaying what the dealer told me.  Not sure if this is applicable to your situation but FYI.