Matthew's Journal

I have a 1991 BMW 318is. For the past few weeks, it has had a vacuum leak in the intake system that's prevented it from idling correctly. My father-in-law, a master mechanic, was kind enough to track down the leak for me. The culprit was the hose coming off the top of the idle control valve. I ordered a new hose off the internet from Bavarian Autosport and it took about a week to arrive. Yesterday, I replaced the leaking hose and started the engine. The car idled fine, but I noticed that it was leaking gasoline all over the floor of my garage from some point in the vicinity of the fuel filter near the back driver's side tire underneath the car. I'm pretty sure the leak is coming from one of the two rubber hoses on either side of the fuel filter. They look pretty cracked and dry rotted.

Needless to say, I'm annoyed. My car has been out of commission for a week now. Since I've moved, I'm no longer within walking or bus riding distance from campus. This makes getting to work difficult.

Anyway, I'm going to try my hand at fixing this problem myself. Wish me luck.