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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Cars / June 2007

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96' Crown Vic CNG fueling fuel adapter leaking..

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Chadster - 26 Jun 2007 00:40 GMT
Help a newbie! Has anyone ever experienced a small leaking of gas from
the adapter right after fueling. A cabbie that was filling next to me
told me that debris might be caught in the adapter holding it open.
It's not a large amount but I can hear it hissing and smell it too. I
can place my finger over it and feel the pressure as it leaks out.
Doesn't drain the tank and seems to stop by itself but just curios.

Is this something that is common or am I in grave danger and should I
zoom over to my local dealer and have it looked at right away ?

Thanks
Jeremie Bedard - 26 Jun 2007 13:15 GMT
My 96 was leaking and even the frame was wet of fuel after a full refill.

I replaced the fuel tank, which was quite rusted and it was still leaking
after filling-up.

I found my problem:

There is a vent tube connecting the top of the tank to the filler neck. The
hose connecting those 2 things is made from plastic. It's similar to the
black plastic tubes they use to cover the electrical wires. It's very cheap,
and mine was cracked. When I filled the tank too much, fuel was leaking from
that tube. I went to the garage and they tried to fix it the best they could
by replacing that stupid plastic hose for something better, but they failed
to repair it. They would need to remove the tank and to create a custom
hose, in metal, to replace completely the pastic one.

Maybe the source of your problem is similar to mine?

Jeremie

> Help a newbie! Has anyone ever experienced a small leaking of gas from
> the adapter right after fueling. A cabbie that was filling next to me
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Thanks
Bruce L. Bergman - 26 Jun 2007 17:13 GMT
>> Help a newbie! Has anyone ever experienced a small leaking of gas from
>> the adapter right after fueling. A cabbie that was filling next to me
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>> Is this something that is common or am I in grave danger and should I
>> zoom over to my local dealer and have it looked at right away ?

 I wouldn't say 'grave danger', but I would find a local dealer with
a CNG Systems trained tech (which you may have to hunt a bit for) and
get it checked out.  And between now and when the replacement part
comes in, park outside - not near the water heater in your garage.
Pilot lights, yanno.  ;-)

 There are bound to be multiple check valves in the system, since
redundancy is a good thing at 3,000 PSI - the check valve in the CNG
fueling fitting is leaking, but the one behind it (probably at the
tank) holds, because as you said as soon as the pressure in that
section of hose line bleeds off it seems to stop.

 SAFETY NOTE:  I seem to recall something about the fuel tanks having
a finite life cycle - a 12 or 15 year expiration date.  They're fairly
thin aluminum (3/8"?) with a fiberglass reinforcement wrap, and
eventually the aluminum fatigues and cracks and you have <ahem> /real/
big problems...  Which is why they want to pull the tanks from service
and replace them before they get that old.

 Don't be surprised if the properly trained dealer technician brings
this up, matter of fact I'd be surprised if they /don't/.   You may
need to take the money you are saving on gasoline and maintenance and
bank it toward a fresh tank in another few years.

 SuperShuttle had one of their CNG Vans go BOOM! (no flames, just the
gas release) a few weeks back because of an older tank failure, since
they drive the wheels off they get fueled daily at least, and the tank
had a whole lotta fueling cycles on it.  And the vehicle was fresh out
of the shop after a rear-end collision that may have damaged the tank
- but no word on if they checked it, or even knew how...  Killed the
driver, shrapnel.

http://johnstodderinexile.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/checking-in-on-cng-accidents-
will-happen/


http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_147004602.html

 I wouldn't have responded at all, but for...

>My 96 was leaking and even the frame was wet of fuel after a full refill.
>I replaced the fuel tank, which was quite rusted and it was still leaking
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
>Maybe the source of your problem is similar to mine?

 What part of the word CNG in the header did you miss?  >.<

 That stands for Compressed Natural Gas, not Gasoline.  Totally
different fuel, totally different fueling systems.  If the OP has got
any sort of liquid fuel on the frame he's in BIG trouble...  ;-)

    --<< Bruce >>--
Ted Mittelstaedt - 27 Jun 2007 09:17 GMT
>   SuperShuttle had one of their CNG Vans go BOOM! (no flames, just the
> gas release) a few weeks back because of an older tank failure, since
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> - but no word on if they checked it, or even knew how...  Killed the
> driver, shrapnel.

It probably would not have killed the driver if he had been in the vehicle,
he wasn't, he was fueling it.

Get used to reading about these failures if hydrogen ever comes into
widespread use.

Ted
Picasso - 27 Jun 2007 09:31 GMT
>>   SuperShuttle had one of their CNG Vans go BOOM! (no flames, just the
>> gas release) a few weeks back because of an older tank failure, since
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Ted

hydrogen will be at much higher psi... 5000-10000
Bruce L. Bergman - 27 Jun 2007 16:43 GMT
>>>   SuperShuttle had one of their CNG Vans go BOOM! (no flames, just the
>>> gas release) a few weeks back because of an older tank failure, since
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>> It probably would not have killed the driver if he had been in the vehicle,
>> he wasn't, he was fueling it.

 This van fuel tank exploded on the first fuel fill after getting it
out of the body shop for the rear-end collision damage.  I wouldn't
have been standing right there during the fueling cycle, I know better
- but most people don't.

 And the sad part is, as an "independent contractor", the victim
owned the van.  Even if someone said "The tank could have been damaged
in the wreck, should we replace it?" the next question would have been
"The insurance company says they won't pay for them - Can you afford a
new set of tanks, and another two weeks of downtime while we get them
installed?"  Safety would get skipped in the chase for the Almighty
Dollar.

>> Get used to reading about these failures if hydrogen ever comes into
>> widespread use.
>
>hydrogen will be at much higher psi... 5000-10000

 It's the tank technology - the fiber reinforced idea is great ONLY
as long as the fibers aren't disturbed, and they get disturbed way too
easily on a road vehicle.  Get in a minor accident, drive over road
debris...   If the fibers were not there, the inner aluminum tank
would not survive the initial hydro-test without gross failure.

 And the tanks having a fixed expiration date where they must be
replaced is only a good safety measure if there is a mechanism to
enforce it, and they refuse to sell fuel to people with expired tanks
or even refuse to issue annual registration.  Since these can be
fueled with a compressor at home or at work, that won't force the
change, and you will see more of these failures.

 Then you'll get crooks who try to make new fake date tags for old
CNG tanks and charge for installing a new set and disposing of the
old, just like 'Spiffy Lube' (name changed to protect the author)
charges for work they don't perform...

   --<< Bruce >>--
 
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