"Although the fuel manufacturers have not claimed responsibility, the number of reported fuel leaks on the 7.3's can not reasonably be accounted to coincidence since the introduction of ULSD. What I have found is that some of the chemical additives in ULSD are separating the PTFE coatings that Ford uses on their fuel and oil seals from the o-rings themselves.
When the coatings separates two things occur:
The PTFE coating does not separate evenly, leaving gaps that fuel can travel past the sealing surface causing the "leak" to appear, usually on top of the engine..
Most all of the factory o-rings are made of Buna-N which has a greater percentage of swell and the least amount of resistance to fuel permeation than other elastomers offered in the industry, namely Vitonョ. Fuel permeation and swell causes the elastomer to become soft and unable to seal the fuel pressures found in the 7.3 fuel injection system."