Morning all. Asking for thoughts on fuel leak. Please don’t think I’m being ignorant if I’m slow to reply as I’m currently packing to go on holiday and may have poor signal for a while. Foolishly I thought it would be nice to start the van this morning after its winter hibernation. It started and ran fine but has developed a leak on the left hand carb. This seems to be an external leak as the Venturi’s are dry. First thought is the bowl cover gasket or the blanking plate below it.
The photo hasn’t shown the problem very well but the right hand screw on the blanking plate is dripping
The carbs have been fitted a good 10 years or so and apart from normal tuning I’ve never touched them. There was no leak before I started the engine
Dry it all off and try and see exactly where the leak is from. Is it from above and dripping down or is it coming from the block off plate? I'd guess it's from the block off plate thingy and I bet eurocarb sell new gaskets for them that would fix it. Give them a call in the morning, they are quick posters. Usually arriving the next day. I don't recognise your block off plate thingy, is that where fuel banjos usually are? I had a leak from a fuel banjo years ago on my dellortos and it was an easy fix. I'll see if I can upload a parts diagram that may help you work out what you need to replace
Hi Paul, my gut feeling is the blank plate. I’ve got the DELLORTO tech book so might take that on holiday with me lol Frustrating that I can’t look at it now. I’ve just put a clamp on the fuel pipe and a rag around the carb. The banjo is around the other side
The blanking plate was where the choke mechanism bolted to . Shouldn’t leak fuel from there as pretty sure you can leave them open as it’s a spring and plunger
Looks to me like the gasket is fuel soaked (the yellow staining) and the screw is just the lowest point the fuel is dribbling down to. Its probably just a slow leak through the fuel metering valve or a sticky float as people have mentioned. Fitting a shutoff valve or a solenoid valve would stop that happening again. Or if you used it more regularly over the winter you might never have even noticed a slow leak..
Probably correct all round. I’ve just popped back to have a good look and it’s stopped leaking. I think new gaskets and a fuel cut off are in order. As for using it more there’s a lot to be said for not having old cars standing around idle
Just ordered a pair of top gaskets and air filter gaskets from Eurocarb. £20 posted They sell shut off solenoids for £35 plus vat but the same ones on EBay for les than £20 posted
You may have to clean casting flash off the eBay solenoids on the spigots in places that may cause fuel seeps - in order to keep costs that low, the manufacturer has skimped on machining steps, or made part of the valve from plastic. Some are only for 8mm hose to add to their annoyance, although at least one has a stepped 6mm/8mm connection.
