W124 Diesel Bath

[Jeremy5848]

While idiot here was working on some wiring at the front of his '87 300D Turbo (W124, OM603), he "temporarily" popped off the little return line from the first injector to the secondary fuel filter and forgot to put it back on. Amazing how much fuel those little lines can squirt. (Enough to register on the fuel gauge.)

Today, several miles down the road, I finally realized why I was smelling fuel. I stopped, put the line back on, and returned home. The engine bay is well and truly washed with B20. Beyond removing the belly panels and liberally applying soap and hot water to the areas I can access, is there anything I should do? I would imagine that much of the fuel will simply evaporate and no harm will be done but wanted to ask the forum for advice from anyone willing to admit they've pulled a similar boner.

OTOH, if it had been gasoline, the car probably would have gone up in flames.

Jeremy

[4x4_Welder]

Take it to the carwash and hose out under the hood. The fuel won't really evaporate, and dirt will stick to it, making a really nasty mess next time you have to work on something. FWIW, aerosol engine cleaners are typically diesel or kerosene based, so it'll clean up really nice.
Car washes have the equipment to handle oily water and keep it from contaminating anything.

[Rahulio1989300E]

Be sure to wrap your alternator with a water-proof bag!

[clintard]

Is it really necessary to wrap a plastic bag around the alternator when washing the engine bay? If so ooops, hope i didnt harm mine!

[Brandon_SLC]

I washed my engines for 25 years without incident. (Except for the occasional wet distributor.) Then, a few years ago I had to wash my Lexus after a leaky power steering hose doused the engine bay.

And it wasn't even that much water, but it ruined my alternator. (Original alternator on a 200k mile plus car though.) Now I'm more careful.


Timing was bad too, so it really stung. I'd just spent $700 getting the car to pass the California Smog test. Spent over $1300 in a week. I was more than a little bummed out.

[Crazy_Nate]

When one of my hard lines broke (REMINDER to everyone else - get your clips on!!), it coated everything in diesel. The hood pad is toast...

I feel your pain. I ended up degreasing the entire engine later...too many crevices that diesel got into and pooled (like around the injectors). They just didn't seem to dry out.

[charmalu]

Yeah, stuff happens once in a while.
I have steam cleaned a lot of engines over the years, and that is hot water under a lot of pressure. Never had any alternator problems from it.

I`ve done Road Graders, Loaders, Dump Trucks, Pick Ups, sedans and things I forgot. Done all the vehicles in my signature.

I wouldn`t hold the water blast directly on the Injection pump, whether hot or cold water from a pressure washer. the temp change could cause some internal damage due to the close tolerances. ( I did actually read that some where)
I do hit it with a quick swish of the wand.


When you think about the location of the alternator, hanging down low, it probably gets splashed a lot during the winter rains, salt slush etc....

Charlie

[Jeremy5848]

Thanks for the advice, especially about the alternator and the IP. I've got a pressure washer, might give it a try, I can plumb it to a hot water faucet. I'm especially concerned about the hood pad, you can tell from the spring action of the hood that there's a lot of extra weight. Damn, the pad is only a year or two old.

[babymog]

I had the plugged return line pop off and do the same thing, ... "I smell raw fuel, better check it out".

The hood pad didn't recover, it was new.

Simple green and water cleaned under the hood, you just need a little detergent to get the fuel-oil water-borne.

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Cover the electric fan switch near the radiator hose or your electric fan will run all the time until it dries out.

I'd use a car wash so the fuel is collected, instead of letting it go into the soil.

[layback40]

Be ready for an engine mount failure. If you have fuel every where, chances are the engine mount on that side will go soft.

[Crazy_Nate]

Originally Posted by layback40

Be ready for an engine mount failure. If you have fuel every where, chances are the engine mount on that side will go soft.

Ouch! I didn't think about that

At least the driver's side mount is much easier than the other

[Jeremy5848]

Looks like I was lucky. When I was working on the aux fan switch wiring, I had tucked the final injector return hose under the intake manifold so it would be out of the way (next time I'll put a red flag on it).

Anyway, because of the way the hose was pointing, most of the (probably several gallons) of B20 ran down the driver's side of the engine and onto the belly panels, from which it drained onto the road. Today when I pulled the panels, there was almost no B20 left. I think there's still a little in the hood pad but it isn't weighing down the hood like it did yesterday so it must be evaporating (and causing global warming, sorry) .

I appreciate all the advice, especially the comment on the engine mount, which was new a couple of years ago so I'd rather not have to replace it again so soon. I covered the electrics and sprayed that whole side of the engine with a 409-type cleaner, then hosed it all off with hot water and used rags and my air compressor to get as much water off as possible. The car is sitting in the sun now, hood reaching for the sky, drying. I think it will end up with no worse than (as Dr. Phlox of Star Trek Enterprise would say) "a thoroughly cleansed lymphatic system."

Thanks for your sound advice. Next project: idiot alarm.

Jeremy

[babymog]

I'd try to clean other rubber parts that the bio isn't kind to, such as your CV joint boots and flex disks.

[charmalu]

and causing global warming, sorry) .i {quote}

Thanks Jeremy, it must be working, it was nice and warm here in Santa Cruz today, no fog.

Charlie