Oom Vibie (Vibrator) Willemse is over 80, but he’s very active. His only disability, and for him it’s serious, is the fact that he cannot hold steady a bottle or glass. His wife, Busty, usually pours for him. She’s shaped like a German barmaid, with a substantial frame and more-than- adequate soft decoration. She’s a faithful companion to Oom Vibie, despite the fact that she prefers scotch and he likes brandy. Together, they run one of the local hotels.
Their W123 Mercedes-Benz 230E has had a hard life, but the old girl has lasted wonderfully well. A few weeks ago, Oom Vibie noticed that the car left a line of fluid that smelled of petrol when he reversed out of the garage. He brought the car to us and our Merc expert, Hennie, had a good look around the engine bay but could not find a leak.
He then started the engine and crawled underneath, inspected it for a minute or two, but could not see any leak. He then left the car for half a day.
When he started the Merc again and reversed it out of the bay, the floor of the garage was covered in small drops of fuel. Hennie crawled underneath but could still not see any leak; however, an idea started forming in his mind.
He parked the car, left it alone for some hours and then asked Japie to start the engine while he lay on the floor next to the car so that he could see most of the fuel line from the tank to the engine. As the starter whirred, he spotted a small squirt of fuel spraying out near the tank for about 10 seconds before it stopped. He left the engine running for a while to make sure that the leak had dried up and then consulted a workshop manual.
He discovered that the vehicle’s software raised the fuel pressure for a minute or two when starting the engine and then lowered it to a running pressure. He was sure that this would allow a small hole to initially leak fuel. A hole was located in a reinforced hose and a replacement was ordered and eventually fitted.