E90 Fuel Rail Line Gasoline Leak, and Hose Replacement

E90 Fuel Rail Line Hose Gasoline Leak

For about a week, I've noticed a subtle smell of Gasoline, it came through the Air Vents, and for a while I thought it was not my car... perhaps the car next to me I thought and during those few days, day by day, I started to get worried that I may have a gasoline leak.  The Smell of Gasoline wasn't extremely intense but worrisome.

I haven't noticed any stains or leaks in my driveway, but I knew I would have to get to the bottom of this problem, because if left unattended it could be very dangerous.

Finally a couple days ago, as I am getting out of my car I notice a very strong smell of gasoline, unusually strong, and I knew I had to do something about it.  I didn't see any gasoline, but boy could I smell it.

Video shows the fuel coming out...

Fuel Line Video

To my surprise the problem was very obvious, also extremely dangerous.  Because I had just come back from a trip and my engine bay was "very" hot.  I was afraid that a fire could start if left unattended, so I set off trying to unplug and clean the gasoline that was still leaking out.

Oddly enough, I could hear the problem, I heard a hissing, I think it was air escaping from the gas tank, I could hear it bubbling too, later confirmed when I removed the cover off the engine bay.

The Quest to Fix the gas hose

In my quest to get a replacement hose, I realized that this does tend to happen, and unfortunately I could only find it on Ebay, other than BMW.  I could find No part number or where to get it.  So here it is: Ebay Link,

I found it cheaper at ECS tuning, here is the new link. Updated 3/5/2019
ECS tuning Website link to Gas hose

I recommend getting the hose from the dealer but it's $60 dollars cheaper at ECS tuning, so I'll leave it up to you.

The price on Ebay is reasonable, compared to New from BMW, I decided to buy a new one, because it's such an important part, I didn't want any issues with a used part, this is the part number printed on the out side of the "new" Hose:

From BMW South County, San Diego CA:
Part # 13 53 7 560 586
Price $157.21

How to Disconnect the Fuel Rail Line: Push the hose back into the connector, and push in on the Blue plastic, push in the blue plastic evenly, and the line slides off.  It takes a little bit of practice, it took me about 6 tries to get it.

Push <--- back on the hose towards the spigot, and then Push ---> forward on the "blue" plastic, only, evenly.  Then quickly pull out the hose.

 How to Connect the Fuel Rail Line: Push the Fuel Line hose back into the spigot, and it snaps back in.


Be very careful, a hot engine bay and Gasoline could set off a fire.
When you remove the Fuel Line, Fuel will come out.  I waited until my car engine was cold to start working on the car.

Tip: If there is NO pressure on the line, the hose can move freely back and forth freely, which would mean there is a leak in the line, BUT... if the fuel line is pressurize the hose will NOT move back and forth, and it feel solidly connected to the spigot, in the rail line.

Metal cover, protecting the Other end of the hose, below
the Car

To remove the hose, there was only one part that really gave me a hard time, because I didn't know what to expect.  It was a shield cover that is covering the other end of the hose.  After removing all the Obvious nuts I believe it was 3, the metal shield would not come out.  After a little bit of investigation I noticed that there is a 10mm nut on the other side of the shield, that you can't see easily.  After I removed that last nut, it came out and I could get "full" access to the hose.

I have to say that I struggled to disconnect the other side of the hose, because the spigot on the other end is made of plastic, but this is the trick...

Other End,
Below the car

This is what I did to disconnect it:

I know you can find a tool to disconnect the hose, but I am no professional so I don't have it, so this is what I did:

Find yourself a wrench that is the same size as the blue part on the Hose,
Note: your hose may have a "Green" quick disconnect not blue like mine.

Now using a wrench, use the "U" part, put it on the end of the Fuel line hose, and while holding the hose, put pressure on the "Blue" quick connect, "Press IN" on the Hose, while you apply pressure inward for a second or two, then quickly pull the hose out.

It took me half an hour to do this, so don't get discouraged, because if you rush this part you will need to buy more than just the hose to fix this.  It's going to feel like it's not working, but keep working it.

Take your time... note that when you remove the fuel line, FUEL will come out, so be prepared with a rag or "Pig mat" to absorb the fuel.

Support Jack

This is where I put the support for the car, I had to remove a cover by the wheel well to get access to it.  I left both the jack and the support stand on the car as an extra safety precaution, I think you should too if you are doing this.  I ended up removing the wheel too, to get better access to the bottom of the car.  I removed the Left side Driver side wheel.


I hope this helps you remove and replace the hose, it was a learning experience for me.  But well worth it, because taking it to the dealer would have cost me easily $500 dollars.

If you have the time, I recommend replacing this part too, specially if you've never had it replaced before: OIL Filter Housing "Gasket".  It's about $5 dollars, so well worth it in my opinion:

OIL FILTER HOUSING GASKET:  I noticed a lot of oil coming from the Oil Filter Housing while looking for the fuel line, and I figured while I am here might as well do it too, you do need specialty tools to reach some of the bolts, plenty of video's online showing you how...
 


Part number for the is:
 11 42 7 537 293

from BMW South County.


Good Luck with all your car work, and thank you for reading this far.  Until next time.

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