Banjo Bolt Repair?

[JHZR2]

I tried to remove the return line to do a flow test on my car. I’m trying to properly size an additional fuel filter because there is rust in the tank and I don’t have the time to fix it now. Plus the car runs great.

The return rubber hose on my 93 300SD would not come off. At all. I pulled hard and obviously it was a little too hard.

I really need to drive the car for about 300 miles on Tuesday.

Any suggestions??

Thanks!

[Sugar Bear]

Take the fitting out of the hose, lightly clean the bore and the fitting. Drop a bolt into the fitting and tap it back into place. See if it holds.

Good luck!!!

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by Sugar Bear

Take the fitting out of the hose, lightly clean the bore and the fitting. Drop a bolt into the fitting and tap it back into place. See if it holds.

Good luck!!!

Ok, to use the bolt as a hitting surface?

Are these things usually just friction fit? Interference fit? Soldered?

I’m not looking forward to removing this because it means pulling the other banjo behind the IP, which probably means removing the intake, and at minimum means the potential for dirt in the IP, and diesel everywhere.

Wonder if doing it in place with a clamp and fixture of some sort might avoid having to remove the line at the IP?

The rest of the fitting spins in the bore of the hose. It just won’t budge coming out. I’d hate to destroy the hose. Any ideas on getting it out?

[Sugar Bear]

Are they friction fit? I don’t know.

Bolt as striking place? Yes

Remove the old hose. Warm it with a hair dryer and also try to get a 90 degree dental pick under the edges. Be careful not to melt the hose or obviously start a fire.

Good luck!!!

[87tdwagen]

+1 on Sugar Bears advice. You can, and probably should use some JB Weld at the fitting union to provide both strength and seal any possible leak.

Plan on replacing that hose, it looks original and is probably baked to the barbs on the banjo fitting. By the tine you get if off the nipple, it will probably be buggered. The other end of that hose down by the fender frame rail is a bulbous flare end and really easy to get on/off without damage, for both your testing and for diesel purging maintenance. The bangos are delicate especially now with age, best to avoid working on that end unless needed.
Good luck

[barry12345]

On old hoses especially ones with a plastic component. You should warm them up as any of the elasticizer when new is gone. Even on new hoses that are hard to get on or off. Warming them up usually makes a world of differance. Sometimes I wrap the ends in place with cloth and keep soaling them with really hot water. You can test that out on the hose that rotates but will not come off the barb. I like hot water because it never seems to be too much heat. The plastic softens.Car hoses are commonly an issue from the heat under the hood. Ifthey do not come off easily you can break something. Heating it up always seems to work. It is a matter of judgement on how hot to get it other than with water.

Any repair of that fitting is not subject to much fuel pressure.If there is a local junkyard you might locate one fast. If they had an old diesel Mercedes in inventory. Not likely these days.

If you knew someone that could silver solder the nipple back in would be a reasonable repair. I forgot that I have been repairing cars so long. That perhaps I should have mentioned about how to deal with getting hoses off.. If they do not come off fairly easily I just automatically do somethings without even thinking. To make them come off easier.

I can also assure you that many members have removed that hose over the years with no breakage. You get to my age of eighty in a few months you do so many things automatically I assume that others do as well.

Many probably do. It applies to many things on old cars. If it does not come apart fairly easy. We do something about it. A few lessons of dealing with broken bolts or whatever is all it takes. To change your ways.

For example I will not touch one of our older cars without welding torches to heat things up. In this rustbelt area you would probably break off one out of four brake bleeders if you did not. It goes on and on. I am not a working mechanic. I have been repairing our cars for over sixty years. Except for brakes and some other things. On our daily driving cars. I have to send them out to shops. For the cost of having what is needed to service them. Plus the yearly subscription charges. Not worth it to anyone not a working mechanic in my opinion.

[JHZR2]

Frankly there isn’t exactly a lot of room or good angle to rip the bolt apart. I’m surprised it did. But I hear you. Should have preemptively warmed or cut the hose I guess. All the others came apart easily…

[JHZR2]

I couldn’t get the broken part in.

Last night I was looking for options based upon size and ai thought that M10 and 1/8 NPT were in the right ballpark. I got a tap and die set from Harbor Freight and a bunch of pipe nipples from HD.

The HF 1/8 NPT would not thread the 1/8” brass pipe nipple. Went to Ace and got US made Irwin tap and die. Worked perfect.

So I tapped the banjo bolt, and cut threads in a pipe nipple to match. I’ve flowed about a gallon through in test and there is a marginal leak, but I didn’t have the nipple screwed in tight. It needs to be silver soldered perhaps, but it’s nice to be removable too. We will see if tightening does the job.







The HF die didn’t fit on the brass nipple. The US made Irwin cut perfectly.





The nipple threaded in. I had to cut the threads on both to not go too deep. I didn’t want the tube to interfere with the banjo bolt.



I didn’t get it quite right enough at first and saw some bubbles coming from the threads. A very slow leak. I suspect that this really needs dope or tape to seal and I don’t have enough threads to do it. May need to be silver soldered in or something.

But at least I can move the car around without diesel spilling everywhere.



This stupid broken part literally ruined my weekend. Ugh.

[Mike D]

Ruined your weekend? Shucks, ya bought a new tool, got greasy and solved a problem, sounds pretty much like a good day for a gearhead.

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by Mike D

Ruined your weekend? Shucks, ya bought a new tool, got greasy and solved a problem, sounds pretty much like a good day for a gearhead.

Not enough hours in the day for me anymore. And the wild goose chase of finding parts to do a repair gets old… kid stuff, family time, fitness, sleep. Doesn’t leave much time…

[barry12345]

Pretty decent solution. I was thinking about a good type of sealer for the threads. They use silicone based sealers for oil pans etc today.

[vwnate1]

I'd take that to a Jeweler and have them solder it ~ I manage to break my wire framed glasses occasionally and no one still does repairs so I found a little local Jeweler that does repair jobs and he solders them up *perfectly* for $5 .

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted by barry12345

Pretty decent solution. I was thinking about a good type of sealer for the threads. They use silicone based sealers for oil pans etc today.

I think the issue of anything is that there aren’t enough threads. There’s just not much meat in the banjo bolt.

The other thing is I’m not sure if it’s the joint that is seeping slightly, or the copper crush washers. I need to either anneal them or find new ones.

Do you think fuel and oil resistant RTV on the threads would work? Just a light coat.

[barry12345]

Yet that sealer should work. Parts should be clean though. I use laquer thinner pretty much as a degreaser of small parts as it also dries so fast.

In the original picture or one of them i thought I did see a ring from the original silver soldering of the parts. around the nipple.

Geting simple things done these days can be far from simple. Any refrigerator repair guy would have silver solder and it would only take him a minute,

I am not sure if the original part remaining is steel though or what metal exactly. A lot of guys in the refrigeration trade are using five percent silver solder.

I am not in the trade but use 15 percent silver solder. A working jeweller as a source mentioned by another member is a better ideal as well if local. A smear of the sealant might not be a bad ideal on the base as well. Working the part might have have caused some distortion.

[Sugar Bear]

What about Loctite, do they make any fuel resistant compounds similar to their stud and bearing mount? May be worth calling them, the company is Permatex IIRC.