HYBRID ONLY Fuel line issue

[KO Stradivarius]

You’re right, we use to call it spit balling. 1st issue reported in 5 years now. I get it could have had much much worse but until more than 1 is reported in that length of time, for me, I sum it up as a freak 1 off issue and conclude the sky is not falling and not make a mountain out a mole hill. Others may have different opinions and that’s fine. Just my 2 cents

We don't know why they made the change. The decision was made long before this one issue arose with the OP. It's logical that there must be something amiss for them to make some changes. There must be either more failures that they are aware of, or else there is some other reason to make the design changes, add the cost and change the supplier.

Sponsored

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

You’re right, we use to call it spit balling. 1st issue reported in 5 years now. I get it could have had much much worse but until more than 1 is reported in that length of time, for me, I sum it up as a freak 1 off issue and conclude the sky is not falling and not make a mountain out a mole hill. Others may have different opinions and that’s fine. Just my 2 cents

First issue reported in 5 years on this forum! I wouldn't be surprised if this form comprised less than 1% of Maverick owners.
But yet, Ford still found a need to update the fuel line. Makes me wonder why?

 

[Timothyd]

Fuel line fires may have happened, but we haven't read about them.
Something caused Ford to update the fuel line in that area. I'd like to know why?

I feel For Liability reasons.
A Ford dealer would insist their mechanics install it, instead of just handing it over to the customer.

I don't think we'll ever know why. A manufacturer wouldn't share a flaw found in testing and this isn't common enough for a class action thing. Only time will tell. Hoping my '24 hybrid will last a long time but I'm going to take a look at that fuel line.

 

[Mav-722]

Picture of my 2026 Hybrid XLT ... looks different than SafetyGuy's picture.

 

[KO Stradivarius]

It's hard to see details in that area of the fuel line in your pictures. You need to zoom in more on the LH (driver) side:

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Picture of my 2026 Hybrid XLT ... looks different than SafetyGuy's picture.

Ret,
Your fuel looks like @SafetyGuy
In your picture. I isolated the area and highlighted where the fuel line has been changed. I can see the Zip ties.

 

[Mav-722]

Hey Glen Baker ... you're absolutely correct ... I looked closer, and took another picture (attached), and mine is exactly the same as SafetyGuys ... Thanks !

 

[MaverickDragon]

Mine is the same as the other MY25's not a big surprise.
What makes me wonder about the original report is that there is clearly damage to the fuel line cover that made a hole and could have damaged the line below that causing the leak.

Any component under pressure that is damaged can leak, but does that make it a design defect?
What caused the hole in the first place?

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Mine is the same as the other MY25's not a big surprise.
What makes me wonder about the original report is that there is clearly damage to the fuel line cover that made a hole and could have damaged the line below that causing the leak.

Any component under pressure that is damaged can leak, but does that make it a design defect?
What caused the hole in the first place?

I can't see anything in that area that would have caused the hole.
If it was an isolated incident why did FORD change the design of the fuel line???
On Sunday when we got back from running errands. I was curious so I took some temperature readings around the area. I also felt around with my hand and there was nothing that was hot enough to melt plastic or burn through the fuel line.

 

[SafetyGuy]

Good day, @MaverickDragon

That is the problem, when evaluating and trying to discern if the hole was incurred as part of subject fuel leak incident, or if the hole as seen in the protective plastic covering is only incidental, and not related (evaluating at a distance is difficult).

Only a hands on examination and comparison between the leaking fuel line (and the root cause of that line leaking) and the hole could possibly answer that query.

That is why my recommendation for a report to be made, that an inspection by an authority could make that decision. And see if there is concerns to be addressed (with the fuel line), or not.

As Glen said, the line may have been changed (specification wise), or the extra zip tied protective sleeve was added, as an solution to an unknown (to us) issue.

We now wait of the OP to return and update us on what happened/what repairs/any conclusions were affected and if they got the new line like we have on the 2025+ trucks!

Have a nice day,

Andy

 

[MattTX]

Here's the fuel line in my Maverick, which was built in October of 2024 so probably near the very end of the 2024 production run.

 

[HeyBales]

Hey Glen Baker ... you're absolutely correct ... I looked closer, and took another picture (attached), and mine is exactly the same as SafetyGuys ... Thanks !

Both sides of that line are connected to the engine, or one to frame one to engine?

If not both ends to engine, seems wrong direction, but could attempts at spirited driving in hybrid cause some engine tilt and cause that bracket to touch line?

ETA: Picture above answered my question.

Frame to engine.
I'm going to guess that next bracket holding the fuel line is NOT attached to engine, but again to the frame somewhere.

Or bracket to engine holding line, next bracket it's near is not.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

On Sunday when I took the temperature pictures post #54 that bracket was only coming up with a temperature of about a 162° it was so far away. I didn't think it would touch the fuel line at any point
At least on my Maverick it would not.

 

[HeyBales]

On Sunday when I took the temperature pictures post #54 that bracket was only coming up with a temperature of about a 162° it was so far away. I didn't think it would touch the fuel line at any point
At least on my Maverick it would not.

Great picture showing the gap.
What's the step above an Italian tuneup?

I mean if it was movement - there's that hose right below the bracket holding the fuel line.
That's much closer if the engine was torquing itself up that high.
Oh - it has extra protection on it...

Also notice - your fuel line is zip tied to that bracket.
The 25/26 pics show the new fuel line with a plastic connector actually plugged into that bracket - so lower overall.

Hmmm - MattTX has his 24MY plugged in too directly to bracket, riding lower.
You had any work done on yours in that area?
The bracket plug is there.

 

[MaverickDragon]

I can't see anything in that area that would have caused the hole.
If it was an isolated incident why did FORD change the design of the fuel line???
On Sunday when we got back from running errands. I was curious so I took some temperature readings around the area. I also felt around with my hand and there was nothing that was hot enough to melt plastic or burn through the fuel line.

That's an unknown as to why, but as Dr. McCoy said in the first Star Trek movie, "You know engineers, they love to change things"..

If it were a normal heat issue that caused it, there would be lots of people with burned up cars.
Apparently that's not the case, so your finding isn't a surprise, but it's a good thing.

With any potential fire cause issue, it's a good idea to make a NTSB notification, but how much weight would be given to a couple of episodes vs many thousands of vehicles ? IDK
Typically the problem needs to be identified first.

It's up to the OP and any others that actually have had the issue to report it.
Hopefully they do.

Sponsored