Rubber Petrol Hoses

[mk1gaz]

Please , please , please all check you rubber petrol hoses ASAP as this new style petrol they sell is eating them away faster than you think .
I had a very lucky escape this afternoon when a small 4 inch hose linking the main metal fuel pipe to the engine bay injection pumps burst on my Porsche 911 and flooded the street with super unleaded !!!!!
I had stopped at a red light and then smelt fuel , remembered Frostys recent fire and pulled straight over . Petrol was everywhere so one spark or drop of fuel on the hot exhaust and boom !!!
The hoses seem to go hard and then fatigue/crack and it's happening to alot of people so be warned .

[rwdrs]

I had a bit of a fright last weekend.
I started up the RS and it was running poor, got out and looked under the bonnet and only discovered that the glass fuel filter had come apart and peeed fuel all over the place .
I removed the filter and hose (was braided hose and not leaking) and have put a straight piece of new rubber fuel hose on instead

[Blower]

I replaced a cracked looking piece on the mk1 a few months ago , the braided fuel pipe may look nice and shiney...

but you cant see the condition of it under the bling

[LOUIE]

Bought some hose for the escort a few months ago and the guy at pirtek was telling me the quality and kite mark of hose they are allowed to supply for petrol applications has changed due to the new fuel eating it away..

At first I thought he was taking the ****.. Just proves he wasn't

[Frosticles]

Think this is why mine went up. I will be checking my future ones every time I go out and replacing every year from now on.

[TugsW]

Glad to hear nothing bad came of that Gaz !

Some background on blending gasoline.........

The new fuel I think your on about gaz is the 5% Ethanol blend been used for a while now. Refinery's have to add this to gasoline blend before sale to the wholesale market, part of the EU regs. for renewable energy.

Maybe what we are now seeing is the rubber used in older cars reaching the critical point.

The blend of ethanol is going up to 10% I in the next few years, then carbs and ally bits will start to corrode due to ethanol likes to turn Ally into some salts (I forget what ones). I don't know if its the rubber that is incompatible with the ethanol or its the water dragged into the fuel that rots the hose.

On the plus side of adding Ethanol it increases the octane rating!! I speak with some knowledge on this as we was looking into how we could control the reduction of the octane rating of the fuel produced from refinery before the ethanol was added to bring it back up to spec. So it's made at 95 RON before the ethanol is added and that adds to the RON rating.

Lucky for you people our refinery has closed down and I will be redundant in the next few days, and as far as I know most European refiners have not got the hang of adding ethanol to fuel so most fuel sold in the UK is more than 95 RON from the pump.

Hope this information is of use.

[RS_Fiesta]

Cheers for the info.
My 205 rally car is still mid build and I noticed that the hoses inside were wet to touch,not good.
What about the Teflon braided hoses???

[mk1gaz]

Cheers for the Ethonel info Tugs . I replaced the engine bay rubber petrol pipes on my escort recently and they had started to rot . Even the petrol pipes on my R5 Gordini fell too bits when i bent them and i only replaced them last year and haven't even driven it yet . WTF
I've tired 3x types of fuel hose as well and they all suffer the same fate so will try Pirtek and their new version i think .

[mk1gaz]

The blend of ethanol is going up to 10% I in the next few years, then carbs and ally bits will start to corrode due to ethanol likes to turn Ally into some salts (I forget what ones).

Oh fooooooooooooooooook !!!!!

[theloudboy]

Glad to hear nothing bad came of that Gaz !

Some background on blending gasoline.........

The new fuel I think your on about gaz is the 5% Ethanol blend been used for a while now. Refinery's have to add this to gasoline blend before sale to the wholesale market, part of the EU regs. for renewable energy.

Maybe what we are now seeing is the rubber used in older cars reaching the critical point.

The blend of ethanol is going up to 10% I in the next few years, then carbs and ally bits will start to corrode due to ethanol likes to turn Ally into some salts (I forget what ones). I don't know if its the rubber that is incompatible with the ethanol or its the water dragged into the fuel that rots the hose.

On the plus side of adding Ethanol it increases the octane rating!! I speak with some knowledge on this as we was looking into how we could control the reduction of the octane rating of the fuel produced from refinery before the ethanol was added to bring it back up to spec. So it's made at 95 RON before the ethanol is added and that adds to the RON rating.

Lucky for you people our refinery has closed down and I will be redundant in the next few days, and as far as I know most European refiners have not got the hang of adding ethanol to fuel so most fuel sold in the UK is more than 95 RON from the pump.

Hope this information is of use.

I drive for shell out of the place steve works at, and the ethanol eats everything the stuff is crap but the eu says it must be added so we have no choice, i am not looking forward to the 10% the tests that they have done on the 10% mix has show that cars that are 10 years old and older don't like to run on it.

[pinto48s]

The corrosion of alloy parts sounds worrying! Carbs are going to get f***ed!
Prob a secret eu policy to get old cars off the road!!!

[TugsW]

I drive for shell out of the place steve works at, and the ethanol eats everything the stuff is crap but the eu says it must be added so we have no choice, i am not looking forward to the 10% the tests that they have done on the 10% mix has show that cars that are 10 years old and older don't like to run on it.

It destroyed the pumps were meant to blend it into the gasoline...

The corrosion of alloy parts sounds worrying! Carbs are going to get f***ed!
Prob a secret eu policy to get old cars off the road!!!

On the bright side it gets eveyone onto TB's and mapped ignition

Glad Gaz bought up about or older cars and the effects of newer grades of fuel, lets hope that we don't loose any more cars. I free a bit gulity knowing about this and not posting before. A good hose supplier will be able advise on what to use with ethanol service, Goodyear and Gates both do the correct spec.

[mk1gaz]

Any links for the correct fuel hose will be good . I've already complained to the local motor factors around here about their disolving petrol hose and they thought i was joking .

[Nick Mexi-cos]

Very good point gaz everyone needs to check there pipes as a matter of urgency ,we fired the fuel pump on the xe mk1 cortina and that's got braided hose all the way through , hose burst in got to say more than 5 places very lucky indeed , glad you got lucky with your fella

[TugsW]

Any links for the correct fuel hose will be good . I've already complained to the local motor factors around here about their disolving petrol hose and they thought i was joking .

I'll try to find the BS/ISO spec of the hose needed, I would not like to quote from Google....I use Abbey Hoses in Grays Essex for my personal stuff. But any hose supplier should be sell the hose needed. Pirtek are getting rather expensive those days, but if there is a parker dealer nearby then the price will come down a lot.