Okay now I have to go look under mine too! I don't recall seeing anything like these lines, making me think that maybe they are covered up by the RS Sliders. I'm gonna go look now. Thanks for posting. That's crazy that it came apart. I have taken my LR3 to Hell and back, and nothing like that has happened. I mean OTHER stuff has, but not THAT particular connector coming loose!

 

...can't really say that I see these fuel lines under my LR3, let along anything vulnerable. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just isn't exposed. Between the RS Sliders, 3 Rasta skid plates and 1 Mantec skid plate, my LR3's underside looks like a bowling shoe!

 

In your case, it is probably so protected up there, no oxygen can even get to it.

This is something to be concerned about however - it may not be just an isolated anomaly.

 

Agree that there is cause for concern if it's exposed, or really for anything that is exposed. I went over the LR3's underside years ago and put extra plastic tubing around any exposed wires (and taped the $hit out of it) and used di-electric grease on connectors and all that kind of stuff. Sometimes these little precautions matter. The skid plates have been very useful for what I use my Rover for.

Other things I've done: every year I sand, paint and rust-proof...pain in the butt but my belly looks good. I don't live in a rust-belt area but when off-road I sometime scrape paint and mud contains moisture so I have to do it.

 

In it's OEM position and mounting it is at the forward facing part of the fuel tank. If you lay on your back with your head under the passenger cat you'll find a small opening thru the frame up to the body where you can see the front of the fuel tank. That is where this quick connect is. Then off to just the right of that next to the transmission is another quick connect that is either a return fuel line or a fuel vent/emission line. I know for fact the one sitting on the front of the tank (lowest hose with the quick connect) is the one with fuel PSI and it squirted everywhere!

Rocker guards may cover the opening to where the water was able to press or pop the line apart. I informed my brother about the situation and he immediately went out and installed some zip ties on each side of the quick connect like I did as a CYA. He owns an 05 HSE LR3.

He sent me a pic and his fuel line configuration looked identical to mine. He lives down a long gravel road in OR and he said he'd hate for it to get knocked free and have to go thru what I did or worse deal with a LR3 on fire.

Rather be safe vs sorry in this situation!

 

...can't see the cats under mine, either, but it sounds like your CYA fix is a good one. Whereabouts in Oregon does your bro live (I grew up in OR) and is he a Beavers fan of ducks <sic> fan?

 

He lives near Forest Grove, OR. He's originally from TX so not sure who he goes for lol.

 

Well, hopefully he'll not succumb to the mass marketing of the evil Oregon ducks "owned" by Phil Knight (CEO of Nike) aka "Emperor Palpatine." They don't really fit the Forest Grove mold, anyway.

So if he's in Forest Grove he must take his LR3 out to Brown's Camp (or "Tillamook State Forest). Has he talked about that at all? It's right in his back yard and it's an awesome trail network! I'm gonna be bold and call it "Oregon's Moab."

 

He mentioned the State Forest. I want to drive my 98/99/02 D1/D2 up there on a vacation and go wild!

 

I highly recommend it. There are hundreds of trails; ~30 of which are for full sized 4x4s. Each one is maintained and rated and all that...and there are forest service roads that go criss-crossing in between each trail. The PAC NW has something a little different to offer than CA, TX, NV and CO. More trees, roots, wet rocks, muddy two-track, etc. You should make the trip!