Busted a fuel line on the JK, not sure how to repair it

I was out on a great trail this weekend (ride report to come) with rocks and boulders and all kinds of obstacles without damaging my Jeep, so far. On the way out, with about 4 miles of treachery to go, on a relatively smooth surface, I managed to kick up a large rock into the area behind the passenger front wheel. Not only did it punch a hole in the floor and raise it about 4 inches, it crushed the fuel line right where it mates to the connector. My problem/question is, what is a way to repair it? I'm seeing Dorman connectors and stuff, but I'm not certain that I have a 3/8's line, and, I'm not real excited about heating up a fuel line with fuel in it. Anyone have any ideas how I could proceed? What actual parts to get? Anything. This is an area I have little repair experience in.
The trail repair was about 15 wraps of duct tape and two hose clamps. As the fuel washed away the duct tape goo I would crawl back under and tighten the clamps again. I probably did that about 10 - 12 times to get off the trail and finally back home (with fuel to spare!)

Where's the actual leak from? If it's the nylon line itself, I'm pretty sure Dorman makes a repair kit for that.

Dangit, that's an important detail. It has about a 90° slice in the line right at the connector where I imagine the last barb would be. The connector/fittings seem to still be working. There might be damage to the last barb on that fitting from the looks of things (hard to tell exactly while I was dodging mini gasoline bombs to the eyes).

I'm trying to take a crash course in these types of lines and fittings, but the one thing in common seems to be that I have to apply heat to the hose to make them pliant enough to slide over the barbs and make a tight seal. I won't use my lighter for that! I'm pretty sure a heat gun won't set off gasoline though.

But maybe I can just cut off the fitting, carefully cut and peel off the damaged line and re-insert into what's left of the original line? I don't know if these lines get brittle with age, but this Jeep only has 3,000 miles on it, so I guess it should still be workable.

Turns out I took a picture before I started repairs!

drrags said:

Dangit, that's an important detail. It has about a 90° slice in the line right at the connector where I imagine the last barb would be. The connector/fittings seem to still be working. There might be damage to the last barb on that fitting from the looks of things (hard to tell exactly while I was dodging mini gasoline bombs to the eyes).

I'm trying to take a crash course in these types of lines and fittings, but the one thing in common seems to be that I have to apply heat to the hose to make them pliant enough to slide over the barbs and make a tight seal. I won't use my lighter for that! I'm pretty sure a heat gun won't set off gasoline though.

But maybe I can just cut off the fitting, carefully cut and peel off the damaged line and re-insert into what's left of the original line? I don't know if these lines get brittle with age, but this Jeep only has 3,000 miles on it, so I guess it should still be workable.

Click to expand...

I'd even be careful with a heat gun. If you leave the engine running and remove the fuel pump relay and leave it out until the engine dies. You can at least get most of the fuel out of the line. Then maybe clean it really good with brakeclean in that area and let it dry before the repair. Some boiling water on the stove may be a better option to put the line in but I've never tried it. But Dorman has all kinds of repair fittings including the elbows.

Can you remove the line from the vehicle, then make the repair?

Or just get a new fuel line for that section from the dealership. They should have a picture of it on the computer so you can see start to finish where it goes. Fuel line and potential fire is not something I would cheap out on if it were me.


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This is the best idea

Thanks for the advice. I will follow it. Until the part gets here, I wrapped the hard line with 3/8ths rubber line (split down the middle so I could cover it) and used 4 clamp-type hose clamps to secure it. It's working much better than the field repair

Then I took my mini-sledge and beat the passenger floorboard back down to level.