Recognise source of leak?

[ssashton]

Does anyone recognise which line is likely to be causing this leak? It's a 306 HDI.

Looks like somewhere going on to the fuel tank then on to the handbrake cable.

I'm guessing brake line, since it seems to be oil, but I'm not sure which bit specifically.

I haven't crawled under the car yet, been feeling poorly lately.

Thanks!

[Mighty306]

Welcome to the club. I very recently had a failure of that little piece of solid brake line shown in your picture & brake fluid sprayed over the tank ....but the brake line itself doesn't look oily, so not sure that's your issue.

The fuel pump sits in the tank just above that point too so worth looking at that as a possible culprit too. Lift up o/s rear seat & you'll see a piece of carpet with a cut-out. Lift that & you'll see a large plastic disc which needs to be prised from the floor of the car, after which you'll be looking at the fuel pump. Could be one of the connectors or else the tank isn't properly sealed where the pump sits in it. (The GF had a 307 which leaked diesel the first time she filled the tank to the brim. Turns out someone had replaced the pump at some point & not seated the o-ring seal properly).

On petrol models the fuel filter sits just forward of the rear wheel but not sure if that's where it's located on HDi's. Not hard to check tho once you feel well enough lay on the floor to investigate!

Anyway, neither leaking brake fluid nor leaking fuel are a good thing & safety issues so don't delay in investigating.

[ssashton]

My wife had just brimmed the tank before we noticed this, but the thing is it really seems oily, not fuel like. I guess it could be fuel picking up loads of dirt on the way down.

Where do the brake lines run from the rear to the front? I thought maybe one passed along the top edge of the fuel tank and was leaking on to it.

[Mighty306]

The only brake line really close to the tank at that point is the one shown in your picture. It's quite vulnerable to corrosion. The bulk of them are set a bit further back, above the spare wheel n then run to the front along the passenger side. They don't appear quite so prone to prone to damage / corrosion. If you raise the car up, safely support it, remove the rear o/s wheel n have a good look below it will hopefully become obvious where it's coming from. I'm going to put my money on the sealing ring for the pump on the too of the tank. Diesel is a light oil.

[Toms306]

Diesel is oily, it's horrible stuff that can cause crashes if it's leaking onto the road in large enough quantities.

It's not like petrol that just evaporates.

HDi fuel filters are in the engine bay so it's not that.

It's usually the rubber elbow from the filler neck that fails and is only noticeable with a full tank. That's what my bet would be here.

[ssashton]

I found it! The leak is from the tube that goes from filler cap to tank. There seems to be a down tube and then an elbow piece. The elbow piece has a crack in it.

How can I fi d out what this part is and where to get a price?

Or if I take it to a garage it might be handy to have a diagram I point to the part on.



Hard to see the crack in this image. It's just below the top elbow join.

[Toms306]

Part number 1505 YX

Loads on eBay. Genuine around £50, aftermarket around £20.