So I had my bucket under the broken drain valve to catch the fuel. Of course, any work on the fuel system is timed to coincide with a full tank of fuel. It's Murphy's law.
The drain valve on my 2008 F250 6.4 Diesel had the lever broken off, so you couldn't drain any water out. I wanted this fixed so in case I ever needed to drain the water, I could.
I took out the three screws and grabbed my pick to remove the two o-rings. Fuel was draining into the bucket and it was getting a little messy with fuel running down my arm, but it wasn't anything I couldn't deal with. I had paper towels and a bucket. It was a little difficult to see the surface where the o-rings seat when fuel was constantly draining out of it.
I replaced the two o-rings, put in the new drain valve, and put it back together. One problem remained. It was now leaking. It wasn't leaking before my "repair". So I took it apart, shined a flashlight on it and saw that it was packed with dirt where the o-rings were. The dirt must have been what jammed the valve, causing the lever to break when somebody tried to open it. I cleaned it up with an old toothbrush. Again, diesel fuel was running down my arm. It's a good thing I buy those blue mechanic paper towels from Costco in the bulk package.
That old toothbrush was too soft. I needed a hard bristle brush. Now I know why they sell hard bristled toothbrushes. Nobody actually brushes their teeth with them. They use them for cleaning.
I thought I got it clean enough, so I put it back together, again. But it was still leaking. So I took it apart and compared the new o-rings to the old ones. The new ones were slightly smaller. Ok, a quick trip to the auto parts store was only 15 minutes away. I used to work at Checker Auto back in my college days. I knew where they kept them. I took the Freestyle because I didn't want to drive the truck with it leaking fuel.
By this point, I had drained and collected about five gallons of diesel fuel, but I didn't catch it all. Somehow, despite my best efforts to contain it, some fuel missed the bucket and was running down the driveway into my neighbor's lawn.
My neighbor, Phil, has the perfect yard. Mine is the kind of yard that drives people to organize those Satanic organizations called Home Owner Associations. I already had one oil leak go off my driveway into his landscaping rocks. Now I've got diesel fuel running into his lawn.
I can only imagine what diesel fuel does to grass. I'm scared. It doesn't just evaporate in an hour like gasoline does. Maybe if I fix his power steering leak for free, I'll remain on his good side.
I decided to try Autozone first. I showed them an old o-ring and they said that they no longer have the drawer of o-rings. You've got to be kidding me. Fine. I'll try O'Reilly. The guy at O'Reilly said they don't carry o-rings that thick. He pulled a set out from under the counter that looked like it came from Harbor Freight. I said, what about your drawer of o-rings? He said they discontinued the drawer of o-rings. I didn't know whether he just didn't know about it, or if the auto parts chains got together and decided to just make life difficult for their customers.
So I went down the aisle and found two assortment packs that appeared to have the right size o-ring. They were fuel-resistant too. Bonus! I had to get two packs because they only had one size of each in the pack. Ok. $14 for o-rings to get the truck to stop leaking isn't too bad. The drain valve kit was $58 from the dealer.
I measured the new o-rings I bought and the outer diameter was 0.515", and the thickness was 0.15", according to my micrometer. They appeared to be slightly larger than even the old o-rings. I thought we were in business. Again, I took it apart and brushed it clean with the toothbrush. These larger o-rings fit perfectly. Once again, diesel fuel was draining and running down my arm as I was cleaning the surface with a too-soft toothbrush.
I finally got it all back together. By this point, I decided it was staying together whether it was fixed or not. I was done. I even got a little rubber cap to put on the end of the drain spout in case it was still leaking. Guess what? It was still leaking - very slowly, like one drop per minute, but it was still leaking, and not out the drain spout. It was leaking around the drain spout, so my little rubber cap solution didn't solve anything.
I even thought I'd get clever and put a piece of scotch tape on the metal piece to serve as a gasket. Because for some reason, Ford decided to put a hole where the o-ring seats, and a hole that stops on the mating surface, without a gasket. Why? I have no idea, but it's leaking fuel. It looks like it was designed to leak fuel. So I left it with a plastic oil catch pan to catch the drips.
Wait. Did I put that pan there before, or after I took the truck to the auto parts store? Because I had one more project I could fit in before the day was over. I was a quart shy on changing the CVT fluid on the Freestyle, so I wasn't going to drive the Freestyle with it low on fluid. I had to take the truck. If the pan got run over, it's not going to work very well for its intended purpose.
I checked, and I put the pan down before I left. But I put it away and forgot to put it under again when I got back. That's just as well because with the way my day was going, the wind probably would have blown it away anyway.
Update 14 June 2016
After trying to get back to this problem for a couple weeks, running at 1/4 tank or less, filling up 5 gallons at a time, I finally got back to it tonight. I had 35 miles left until empty, so tonight was perfect for this job. I parked uphill on my driveway and opened the fuel drain valve. After it drained, I was able to take a closer look and here's what I found.
If you're saying "wait, something doesn't look right", I'm with you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an example of a casting error. No, not a mistake like Jar-Jar Binks, but where not enough aluminum got into the form when they cast the part. It's what we call in the industry a latent defect. That's where the defect doesn't show up until after the product is in the customer's hands.
When I was working on it earlier, I didn't realize that hole was not intended to be there. There was too much fuel draining and I was in a hurry. If my RTV doesn't fix the leak, I'll have to get another HFCM. Not fun for the wallet.
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