petrol pipes

[gixersteven]

After being advised by a freind to change all the petrol pipes on my 2.1 t25 as he pointed out they were 22yrs old and probably past there best, I proceeded to do this. All was fine for a couple off weeks but then i started getting fuel leaks every few days. for a start i put this down to the new pipes compressing and just tightened the jubilee clips up but now the pipes are very compressed and leaks are still appearing. I beleive one off my problems may be that i used jubilee clips and not proper petrol clips as i am aware that they dont stay 100% round on pipes of this size. I also beleive that i have read somewhere on the wiki that i should be using 5.7mm pipe and i used 6mm but i cant seem to find this information anymore. All of the suppliers i have tried just laugh when i ask for 5.7m pipe. Any advice would be much appreciated as i am getting a little worried as quite often i set out on a journey with no leak just to find i have one when i get there.

[Bowton Lad]

Proper fuel hose clips are very difficult to find. I ended up using jubilee clips because that was all that I could find & I have never had any leaks.

Fuel hose has been discussed many times & I have previously posted about the unusual size of 5.7mm. I bought a metre of the only fuel hose that GSF had available & at 7mm it was too big in diameter. I ended up at Frank Edwards, a motor factors in Bolton. His place has been there for as long as I can remember, at least 35 years. It was Frank Edwards who told me that the nearest fuel hose size to 6mm is (5.6?) 5.7mm. Other sizes eg. 4mm & 5mm are 'true' or exact sizes.

I replaced all the fuel hose in the engine bay ie. from where the hose comes through the bulkhead to the fuel pump & from the fuel pump to the carb.

[toomanytoys]

Well I had no problem getting the correct size.. 5.6/5.7mm (actually marked on it so ask to see what they have and read off the hose itself!!!)
and its fuel injection hose (for much higher pressures)

The correct petrol pipe clips will also be available from any decent motorfactors...

The small (correct size) "jubilee" clips (good quality not Wilko specials) will work ok.. but they have to be the right size (ie tiny) If you have any more than 5 mm of "tab" (the bit that sticks out) after tightening, its too big...

[HarryMann]

The proper crimp hose connectors are of course the real thing, but unless you've a tame mechanic over the road, normally would have to buy a kit with the crimping pliers (like large but blunt nippers) or some loose from Motafactors and borrow/improvise on the crimp pliers.

[syncrosimon]

Halfords Parts dept sell the proper fuel hose clips in boxes of 10 for 5.99. Got all mine from there, seem to be good quality.They also stock Dunlop fuel hose.
I got most of my hose from VW in rolls of 5 meters. It's all on ETKA, but has an N number , not a 025 one.

Got lots of spare 11mm tank to pump hose (syncro) as I only used 4 inchs!!!!

[gixersteven]

no cheap jubille clips on my van, They are made by jubilee themselves. The motor factors i use are also pretty good as they have a workshop off there own specializing in fuel and electrics, diagnosis and fuel pump overhauls ect. i am actualy a mechanic with all the tools i could possably need at my disposal, I only ask the question as my supplier contacted gates hoses direct and they just laughed when ask for 5.7mm pipe. The pipes were fine for the first month or so until a 300mile trip to newqauy and ever since nothing but leaks. Cheers for the replies anymore info gratefully received. I have fitted hundreds off fuel hoses over the years and never had a problem like this before, Cheers steve

[phade]

This sounds like cheapo crap rubber fuel hoses to me. I used to use cheapo GSF rubber ones and they became useless within 2 months, they just literally fell apart !!!

I would go to your local motor factor and get some synthetic yarn fuel hose (that's the sort of stuff they usually sell anyway). 5mm should easily fit (1/4" is too large), if your fuel tank has a larger pipe than the rest of the fuel pipes then a 1/4" or 6mm one should fit it. If the fuel hose is a bit tight then the old fashioned hot water trick will work wonders.

I fitted a 1/4" hose from the fuel tank to the fuel filter and 5mm on the rest of them (my one is a 1982 2.0 litre Aircooled one) and I have had no problems with them. I used jubilee clips to tighten them up.

One word of warning about fuel hoses is to check all of them, don't leave them to chance !!! If you do you could cause your van to catch fire and literally burn it to the ground.

[dazzzer1]

gsf do the crimp clips they are quite expensive for what you get but imho are best, i always use side cutters for them and they work fine.