Dodged a bullet today

[trlin]

So today it was mid fifties in the northeast and I thought it would be a good day to get the '69S out for spin after winter storage.

After checking things out on the car, I turned the key, primed the pump and turned over the engine. After idling for 10 seconds or so I felt compelled to get out and look at the engine bay to see if all was well. To my surprise I see gas spewing out of the gas filter onto the engine! I immediately jumped in the car and turned it off. I then went back and was able to turn the fuel filter 1/8 or a bit less by hand....

Holy sh*&, I dodged a bullet there. I had the fuel filter changed by my normally trusty air cooled specialist back last summer. I'm guessing the lower winter temps must have shrunk the gasket just enough to let the gas out under pressure. What's scary is I put a few thousand miles on them car in that condition.

I can only surmise that he hand tightened the fuel filter and forgot to tighten it with a wrench for some odd reason.

[Unobtanium-inc]

So today it was mid fifties in the northeast and I thought it would be a good day to get the '69S out for spin after winter storage.

After checking things out on the car, I turned the key, primed the pump and turned over the engine. After idling for 10 seconds or so I felt compelled to get out and look at the engine bay to see if all was well. To my surprise I see gas spewing out of the gas filter onto the engine! I immediately jumped in the car and turned it off. I then went back and was able to turn the fuel filter 1/8 or a bit less by hand....

Holy sh*&, I dodged a bullet there. I had the fuel filter changed by my normally trusty air cooled specialist back last summer. I'm guessing the lower winter temps must have shrunk the gasket just enough to let the gas out under pressure. What's scary is I put a few thousand miles on them car in that condition.

I can only surmise that he hand tightened the fuel filter and forgot to tighten it with a wrench for some odd reason.

Very smart, I do the same when the car has been dormant for awhile, start it, walk around, check for leaks, drips, fire, etc. I've found leaking carbs many times this way.

Glad you checked.

---Adam

[trlin]

Thanks, I was close to having a nice explosion either in the house garage or driving down the street. Scary stuff....

[911kiwi]

Thanks for sharing this. My 911 is driven regularly & Down Under in NZ with our sub-tropical climate we can drive all-year-round. However, it’s easy to take things for granted. I often just jump in the 911, turn the key & drive off. For piece of mind, I will start doing the “walk-around” - we do it on our aircraft, why not with our precious cars.