Home made return line kit

[dyoung14]

My girlfriends 89 needed return lines horribly as all were leaking all over then engine, and i cant afford a 50 dollar kit at the moment, now i always wonder why you would have to replace the plastic cap unless something was really wrong with them, so i bit the bullet went to my local napa and set down and dug thre the o-rings till i found the one that looked identical, bought 16 of them, bought enough fuel line to do the job and a couple hose clamps and a 3 way "T" to convert the old style return to the later style cause i like them better, and put it all together and i have no more air intrusion problems now and no fuel leaks not saying this is the right way to do things, just that i only have about 11 dollars in this and it works great, and when money is tight anything that saves me 40 dollars is great

Just figrued i would share

 

[greg_a_morton]

the kit that I just bought to put on my engine is junk. I am going to replace all the line with some from a big truck shop. The line that comes with the kit will pull off with the clamps on and makes me leery.

 

[dyoung14]

the kit that I just bought to put on my engine is junk. I am going to replace all the line with some from a big truck shop. The line that comes with the kit will pull off with the clamps on and makes me leery.

Were did you buy the kit?

One of my buddys needed one so he gave me the money and i ordered one from mel, the kit i got from mel was a good kit nothing wrong with it worked just fine on his truck,

My home made on works fine so far

 

[CDX825]

Seems like most of the time its either the O rings or the hose that starts leaking anyway. When I replaced my return line set I kept all the plastic caps just in case.

I dont know if its just me but it seems like this new fuel eats rubber up like crazy.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Really. 40 bucks is gonna break you? just the piece of mine knowing that the plastic caps are brittle and break w no notice is enough for me to buy the kit

 

[franklin2]

That's what I did also. I got the O-rings from the hydraulic parts section at Tractor Supply(O-ring #111 7/16 ID x 5/8 OD) and 60 inches of 3/16 fuel line from Napa. That was 2 years ago now. My plastic caps where in good shape.

 

[idi traveler]

I have seen times when $40 would break me!!! Dyoung's thinking is why we are able to drive these truck, and others can't!

 

[coletrain777]

I just did the exact same thing yesterday. My caps were fairly new but the line was in poor shape. I went and bought 16 of the #111 o-rings and 6 ft of fuel line and... no more leaks and its great. I forgot how easy the truck starts and how much better the low rpm acceleration is with no air intrusion.

Dyoung - good for you! Sometimes things are tight and you have to do what you have to do. My father in law still tells the story of when he had 3 kids in the house and money was tight. His blazer had developed a knock in the engine, and when he dropped the pan he found that one of the rod bearings was pretty much gone. Now the "best" or some might say "right" thing to do would have been to tear the engine down and do a rebuild. He didn't have the money so he went to the local parts store and ordered "1" bearing and replaced only that one. He says the engine ran great with good oil pressure and no noise for the next 30K miles that he owned it, then he sold it to a buddy that drove it for 80K more trouble free miles! Sometimes the "right" way isn't always doable, sometimes you just have to make it work (it's a truck, not rocket science).

 

[Black dawg]

Ive reused ford caps lots of times, even some aftermarket ones.

good job man, its nice to be able to do things the "right" way, but sometimes a little judgement goes a long way.

 

[dyoung14]

Really. 40 bucks is gonna break you? just the piece of mine knowing that the plastic caps are brittle and break w no notice is enough for me to buy the kit

I wish there was a dislike button or a no thanks button

 

[dyoung14]

THANKS GUYS! yes i remeber now it was the #111 o rings, all new 5/16th lines and its good to go, no need to buy the new caps and all that and pay 40 more dollars when i could put that money towards a house, every little bit adds up, i have found out.

If on of the caps break oh well i got extra no big deal, plus i have never seen a cap break on its own, then only time the break is when there monkeyed with and someone causes one to break i have broke many but it was my fault, i broke a new on once, put an old one on sealed up just as good as a new one

 

[82F100SWB]

I did just this on my 6.9 years ago, mind you, it was with a new injector install, and they came with o-rings, but, I have the stock 86 caps on there, and diesel rated 5/16th fuel hose and worm clamps... have never had a leak in 5 years, even with the truck sometimes sitting 6+ months at a time.

 

[Brianedwardss]

I've done this same thing David. If I lived in a more extreme climate, I'd be more concerned. I've got a whole mug full of these plastic return pieces, and there's a few stored in my truck for emergency. When it comes to these return line systems, if they're not leaking, I don't touch 'em because the 'new' ones seem to always leak the first three tries

 

[BigRigTech]

I have one or 2 seeping on my truck and the o-rings/hoses are new, I have a bag full of used caps, new or-rings and some new line in the truck at all times.

 

[Diesel_brad]

I wish there was a dislike button or a no thanks button

Thats ok. It is obvious when you thank EVERYONE in EVERY thread that agrees with you.

And you and i dont agree on much except for someones bodywork