fuel leak

[pauljmcnulty]

Went out on Friday morning and noticed a smell of petrol on the drive. As the van's diesel, it pointed to it being the 944.......sure enough there was a pool of fuel under the rear. []

With all the talk of fuel line problems it was easy to diagnose, but I wasn't keen to drive the 45 mins to my specialist as it was coming out at an un-nerving rate. So - down to the garage at the bottom of the road who do my other vehicles basic servicing etc. Saturday morning, so close at 12, short staffed but still had the car back to me in 3 hours. The only person left didn't know what had been done, only that they replaced corroded fuel lines.

I need to pop back later today to pay them and find out exactly what was done, but hopefully not too much as it was only a max of three hours and no parts ordered in!

 

[Paul Fraser]

If it was like mine, I suspect they cut out the corrosion and replaced it with flexible tubing. Quick and cheap repair as opposed to dropping the fuel tank to replace the fuel lines.

 

[944psi]

Probably something like this -

How much was the bill? The picture above is from my old car. I'm sure it will hold up but my concern would be corrosion of the hose clips as the fuel is under pressure.

Phil

 

[sawood12]

In order to replace the fuel lines apparently it is the axel that needs to be dropped and not the fuel tank, although some specialists reckon it can be done without dropping the axel. I doubt that the axel can be dropped and replaced in three hours as there are several bolts that will be pretty corroded and I guess you'd have to allow three hours just to drop the axel let alone replace the fuel lines and re-attache the axel. It could be that the leak was coming from one of the unions which just needed a bit of a tighten to stop the leak.

The flexi solution is becoming more popular although their long term robustness has yet to be proved. There must be a reason why manufacturers continue to fit hard pipes to new cars. However if you keep an eye on them I don't see why they shouldn't be perfectly safe.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Good news! []

They've replaced the back section of the fuel line. Hose £31.80 and £100 labour, so with the VAT £150, which I think is very reasonable indeed considering the horror stories I get about dropping the axle and fitting original parts and then getting a £1000 bill.......

I did mention the longevity of the flexi pipes. They've never had a problem on any car that has had them fitted, so that does bode well.

I do like it when it goes well!

 

[Hilux]

The flexi solution is becoming more popular although their long term robustness has yet to be proved. There must be a reason why manufacturers continue to fit hard pipes to new cars. However if you keep an eye on them I don't see why they shouldn't be perfectly safe.

I`ve used flexis on a whole car, they are no problem (easy to fit but require more support) BUT with high pressure injection systems you need proper pipe unions and joints and NOT standard screw up petrol pipe clips combined with cutting the metal tube and using a push on flex pipe which a lot of people do for a cheap job.

 

[berg944]

The rear section from the pump is a flexible pipe that costs around £30. I replaced mine with the fuel filter and it took about 1 1/2hrs without a lift.

I don't think flexible pipe is a problem, it is used at both ends of the fuel line.

It should not be used where it could be ruptured in an accident.

I would not use jubilee type fastenings, the ends of the steel pipe needs to be flared or have goodridge type fittings.

Mike[:'(]

 

[Justin85]

I recently used PTFE lined braided hose to replace my rotten fuel lines above the rear beam, and they've been fine, even used with compression joints onto the existing pipework, sorry for the poor pic;

I also used Heldite jointing compound and so far so good. No leaks on the joints, didn't have to drop the rear beam to post the lines over the top. Total cost of having the hoses made up with all the compression fittings was about £70.

Justin.

 

[DivineE]

I know a lux that had rubber fuel lines installed with two jubilee clips at either end. The cars was driven v.hard for a year and a half after that before it was sold and as far as I'm aware never had any problems. Certainly didn't need anything removing to replace the lines like you would if you were fitting a solid pipe. Personally I can't see the point in fitting a metal fuel line which is funadentally flawed to fail again even it they were the same price to fit?! Flexible lines work fine on many other 20year old cars and last alot longer? I never had any issues with my 83 vw.

Ben

 

[sawood12]

I don't think that 20yrs of reliable service demonstrates a fundamentally flawed design. You'd be doing very well to get 20yrs out of rubber flexi's. The problem with natural rubber is that over time rubber looses it's flexibility due to ozone and oil attack and as a result the pressure within the crimp relaxes as the rubber degrades i.e. goes crazed. As far as i'm aware modern science has not solved the problem of the corrosive effects of ozone and oils and solvents on natural rubber, though its resistance has been massivley improved.

If the opportunity for me to replace mine with OEM lines so cheaply wasn't available to me I would opt to ahve a section of line made up from metal pipe like you would with brake lines. I know of one person who has replaced a secion of their lines this way on their S2. I'm sure it's more expensive than the rubber flexi method, however it'll be alot cheaper than replacing with OEM.