warning ,fuel lines

[SteveD]

as some may know i do honda elise conversions amongst other things   and have been using decent rubber high pressure fuel lines on them all be it short lines no more than a couple of foot long ,myself and others have had fuel lines perrish and leak fuel ,even none pressure lines(return pipes)

i know of plenty of other cars that have had problems ,and braided fuel lines suffer the same ,only braided lines are worse because you cannot check them as they are covered with braid ,the first you know is either the smell of fuel as they mostly go on start up when they pressure up and also luckily when they go like this the engine etc is not hot , but if they start spraying fuel at 48 psi when everything is hot its goodbye car im affraid

myself and others have put this down to modern fuels and its addatives perrishing the fuel lines as some have gone within a year of fitting them ,and they have all had decent quality lines fitted i stopped fitting braided as you cannot visually check them ,so please take the time out to check your fuel lines  properly

steve

[blankczechbook]

yep - avoid braided fuel lines.  i bought some by the metre and you can't check the rubber markings easily to see if it really is fuel / oil / pressure rated. won't do that again for sure.

i had cracked fuel lines a few years down the line, but luckily on a carb system so it just leaked at standstill and sucked air when running..   the pump to carb hose had already been swopped to proper hosing previously so the only pressurised piece held up thankfully.

[XTR2Turbo]

I hear it will be even worse as Ethanol gets added to petrol soon also.

Is the solution to use braided hose that has a teflon (or similar) liner to prevent this?

David

[GreigM]

yep, only gonna get worse when they go to E10 fuels....hopefully someone sees this for the safety issue it is and puts a stop on this particular piece of Brussels madness....aside from the safety issues we're now using a food crop for fuel while billions starve round the planet....absolute lunacy...it seems they are so keen to save the planet they'll happily kill people to do it.

[SteveD]

I hear it will be even worse as Ethanol gets added to petrol soon also.

Is the solution to use braided hose that has a teflon (or similar) liner to prevent this?

David

im looking into oem plastic fuel lines and a machine to make them up with push on connectors  

[fatbaldbloke]

I had some fuel hose from a local factor leak from new, like a sieve.  Replaced it with some from CBS and was fine.  I totally agree with the note about braided, avoid.  Also make sure all flexible lines are visible for inspection, use hard lines where it can't be seen.

I notice that Samco are now advertising a permanent fuel compatible silicon hose in their range (bet it's not cheap though).

[dombanks]

im my previous job we had loads of trouble getting piping that would last, our combination of chemicals that went through the lines meant that the most suitable for one was totally wrong for the other. even solid lines were a no goer in places due to the particulate sticking to it.

mostly we used a rigid PTFE tube. i always wondered if these would be sutable for fuel lines/brake lines etc. they have a pretty high burst rating and also a good imapct resistance.

[Martin Keene]

That's interesting, I had the hose from the rail to the FPR fail this year on mine, with so little hours on it I assumed it was me specing incorrect hose and changed it all. The stuff that failed on me came fron CBS

[fatbaldbloke]

I'm increasingly tempted on my 'busa build to try the Samco fuel hose, it's pricey (around £40 for a metre of 8mm) but I'll only need one length.  I shall be using cupro-nickel for the hard lines.

[RedditchJay]

its is only petrol that knackers fuel lines or does diesel do the same ?

[flyingbanana]

Not sure if posting links to another forum is acceptable, but there was a thread on locostbuilders earlier this year covering fuel hose.

I haven't checked all the facts out yet myself, but plan to do the flexible hoses on mine in the next couple of months.

Anyway, the thread is here: http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=153126

[Matta]

I've just replaced all the fuel hoses on my 2004 factory-built car. They looked original apart from one.

Every hose was showing extensive signs of perishing/cracking - some quite badly but none were visibly leaking.

However, all the cracking was on the outside of the hoses. Internally they weren't bad at all. Seems more like crap hose to me, rather than any effects from fuel.

Matt

[BEN99W]

So what you're saying is: use supermarket fuel cos that lacks the additives which will otherwise eat your fuel lines...  

Ben

edited to add: must get round to replacing mine which are made with braided leftovers given to me from a mate who had a cossie back in the day...

[adamnreeves]

for some reason I have always been able to smell a hint of fuel from my fuel hoses. However can see no leaks, damage or cracks. They are specific for fuel use as bought from Westfield. Strange.

[fatbaldbloke]

With reference to the interesting link on the Locost forum, I've just checked my hoses going on the 'busa build and they are, as suggested, the low spec of J30R6.  That's my mind made up, they're coming off while it's empty and something better going on.