Petrol Pipe

[tankerman24]

Just a post for the newbies and maybe not the newbies, ( Not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs)

Check your petrol pipes carefully, The pipes under my bonnet are fine, but I was working around the rear of the car the other day and thought the petrol pipe looked  a little bit perished ( just a few  very small cracks).  So off i went and bought some proper petrol pipe. boy did I have a shock when I was removing the old pipe  I undid the jubilee clip pulled the pipe and it just broke in my hands, when I got the pipe off if you even tried too bend it, it just snapped. looks to me like the pipe used was the wrong type of pipe ( not fuel pipe)  like I said just a heads up for the newbies to double check .

[Hammy]

A good tip - even with the proper pipe its not until you bend it about a  bit can you see any cracks.

[tankerman24]

I bent mine Hammy and it snapped

[Mid life crisis]

3am in the morning last winter is when I discovered my perished u bend rubber fuel pipe, where it exits the tank and feeds the fuel pump!!!!

First indication was our house cats prowling up and down stairs, and in and out of our bedroom. Generally behaving strangely and very vocal.

Put boxers on and went down stairs into the kitchen and was hit by a very strong smell of petrol. Ventured into our adjoining garage from the kitchen, only to find it was full of petrol fumes, and the floor was soaking wet (I store the car on it's trailer in the garage).

It was at this point I looked up at the central heating boiler on the wall and spotted the pilot light!   sh*!!!!

PANIC!  PANIC!  PANIC!

I park the tintops close up to the garage doors overnight as a security measure.

Find keys,  find keys!!!!!  every light in the house is now on.

Move tintops onto the grass each side of the driveway.

Run back into the house and into the garage, throw the garage door open.

With the strength you only have with an adrenalin rush!  got behind the car and trailer and pushed them out of the garage onto the downhill drive way.

OMG  !!!

PANIC!  PANIC!

Just about managed to overtake the trailer and get the handbrake on before it exited our driveway and crashed into something expensive.

Then run back into the house, lock cats in lounge, opened all house and garage windows to let the freezing air dissipate the fumes and evaporate the remaining fuel on the garage floor.

Go outside and have a look with a torch at where the petrol has leaked from.

It was at this point SWMBO emerged like a ghostly figure, lit up by both the the house and security lights, and offered the advice only a female can give at 3.30 in the morning about westy, fuel, garage and toys !!!!

To make it worse during our short conversation a van drew up at the bottom of our driveway with two uniformed gentlemen, inquiring if everything was OK.  Every light in the house on, plus security lights, and me standing there in my boxers.

They were very obliging, and having put some clothes on, helped us to push the westy and trailer back into the garage.

CHECK YOUR FUEL PIPES REGULARLY  !!!!!!

[tankerman24]

Glad it turned out ok, I think the problem is as mentioned earlier they can look fine , but you need to bend them to see any perishing .

[ivormole]

Had the same on my old SEW, well only 12 months old actually.

Took pipe back to Westfield who said they'd never seen problem before !!!  

If the proper grade fuell pipe is cracking and going brittle, what should we be using ??  

[Mid life crisis]

My car has not been converted to unleaded so I have to use additive. Wonder if it is this that is causing the pipes to break down?

[cliveboy8]

I built my car between Feb 2005 and August 2005.

Just after it was registered in Sept 2005 I received a letter and a supply of new fuel piping from Westfield.

The letter stated that the original pipe supplied to me was suspect and I changed to the new pipe.

[Hammy]

I bent mine Hammy and it snapped

I'd advice a quick trip to the A&E mate

[davehall]

I've had the same problem as well. Didn't realise there was a problem until the next door neighbours complained of a toxic smell! When I opened the garage door I realised what they were on about. I looked under the back of the Westy and found a huge puddle.

So have we all just suffered this or is it a common problem? If it's only just started happening, perhaps it's related to the cold weather. I assume very low temperatures will make rubber more prone to cracking.

[tex]

i had the same happen to me - all the fuel pipes on my car have been replaced since i bought it - they were all cracked.. westfield items.. i dunno where they get them from or if its just the pipes but iv never had probs before in any car.

it happens on pipes with bends.. which unfortunately is all of them! fixed now before they leaked.

but it is a good lesson learnt for anyone out there - visual inspections are quick - do them often - it can save a fortune in misery and money.. ie the other day i noticed the exhaust pulling away the fibreglass at the rear mount.. bad design but fixed now..

[Bob Green]

My car is a 1996 ZEI.  I changed all rubber fuel pipes last year due to leakage from one of the high pressure pipes at the rear.  Well, I say leakage, it just started p*****g out whilst the car was warming up on the drive before a quick blat.  It could have been a disaster if I went out in the car.

It just goes to show some things we take for granted and forget they have a "sell by" date.

[Paul D Turner]

Had an extremely lucky escape last summer. Went out in the car one Sunday, slight smell of petrol stopped and checked no leaks under bonnet, continued. Smell still there and after a couple more miles stopped again, still no signs but decided it required further investigation at home. By the time I got home the smell was really bad and the fuel gauge was dropping like a stone, when I parked on the drive fuel was dripping from the rear of the car onto the drive.

Wheels off to investigate, the stainless braided 8mm hose from the LP pump to the swirl pot just snapped off the union when I touched it. Checked it at the pump, exactly the same. The hose from the tank to the pump was also hard but didn't just snap off. The 12mm cotton braided hose from swirl pot to the HP pump via the filter started to leak as soon as I pressed it.

All the hosed were 4 years old and the 8mm ones were purchased from a well known company that visits kit car shows. They assured me that they were petrol hoses and offered to supply replacements FOC but I had no confidence. The 12mm ones were purchased from a local hose company who also offered free replacements, again I declined.

The HP hoses on the car are all Goodridge TFE ones and appear to be OK but its impossible to tell whats happening inside the braid. The braid on the TFE hoses is very stiff and it is not possible to squash them even if you wanted to.

I ordered replacements from Sytek, since they specialise in fuel pumps, hoses etc I hope they are supplying a quality product but I intend to change them after a maximum of 3 years anyway.

The flexible hoses on the car prior to it being injected were fitted when I built the car in 1992. Still have them in the garage, still flexible with no cracks, bought them from a local hose supplier who is no longer trading.

Now to the real worrying part, to replace the hose from the LP pump to the swirl pot I had to remove the seats to gain access. The carpet under the seat was soaked with petrol, hate to imagine what would have happened if it had ignited.

This is a very worrying trend, the consequenses of failure could be catastrophic.

Paul

[tex]

i would of thought then there needs to be a list of what pipe was fitted and where from - in doing so it might isolate the offending supplier.. or if thats not possible it maybe a matter of course to just replace all the rubber fuel hose regardless after say??? 2 years?

[dstorey]

Shouldn't proper fuel hoses last at least 10 years?

This thread has got me worried though  I'll be checking my hoses tonight!

Is it possible to replace your rubber hoses with metal all the way through the system? This sort of stuff: http://murdockindustrial.com/bullitins/hpcat.pdf