A word of warning

D

D16PJM

Member
Thanks to all the great advise I got at the Enfield pageant yesterday I changed my driveshaft's today and my vibration has gone, I also thought I would clean my engine bay a bit and that's when I noticed my fuel pipe all looked fine but on every bend had cracked and perished quite badly, lucky it didn't split with it being quite close to the manifolds so everyone check your fuel lines as for a few pound could save a disaster.
 
Indeed.

Make sure the fuel hose you buy is at least rated to SAE R9. R6 isn't up to dealing with the increased ethanol content in fuels these days :)

Also, don't use overbraided hose as you can't tell the condition of the rubber under the braiding.
 
Tofufi said:
Indeed.

Make sure the fuel hose you buy is at least rated to SAE R9. R6 isn't up to dealing with the increased ethanol content in fuels these days :)

Also, don't use overbraided hose as you can't tell the condition of the rubber under the braiding.
Click to expand...

Check that the fuel hose is from a reputable manufacturer(Gates, Goodyear etc.), as there is some nice folk out there selling fuel hose(usually on-line)that is purporting to be SAE R9, when indeed it is not :twisted:
 
glad you got sorted. I only managed a chat to one chap with a p6. he was having a sandwich at time . not as many rovers as one would have liked but nice to see a few around. did anybody see the estate version not with the group? sadly needing a lot of work.
not managed to meet another p6 owner locally but who knows... one day. maybe sort out my own cars issues lol. be nice to compare cars and ideas etc.
didn't know rover p6 got trouble with drive shafts ..have o keep an eye on mine. though i am aware the auto boxes are prone to leaks..as my drive and garage floor can attest to.
will def be going to pageant next year.
 
Tofufi said:
Indeed.

Make sure the fuel hose you buy is at least rated to SAE R9. R6 isn't up to dealing with the increased ethanol content in fuels these days :)

Also, don't use overbraided hose as you can't tell the condition of the rubber under the braiding.
Click to expand...

And its not just fuel hose that is susceptable to damage from ethanol; you also have to look at any other rubber parts in the entire fuel system. For example I am using a SU fuel pump on my Rover "5000" TC and although the pump is less than a year old it is already beginning to leak due to ethanol destroying some of the internal soft parts. Here in California we have 10% ethanol fuel but I understand that some areas can run as much as 15%.

I am running an Edelbrock 4 bbl carb on the Ford V8 in my Rover and now suspect that the ethanol is attacking the tips of the float needle valves because the car 'self floods' after 20 minutes after having shut the motor down. And the accelerator pump failed in a friend's '56 Chevy due to ethanol. In fact, his Chevy suffered over $15000 damage from an engine fire which, although not proven, could have been due to a fuel line failure.

Furthermore I have read that ethanol absorbs far more moisture than gasoline which can be a problem with classic cars that don't get driven very much. Any fuel left in the tank will outgas the moisture and begin to rust the inside of the tank, along with any other steel parts in the fuel system.

Ethanol is a problem with classic cars. Some guys go as far as hunting down ethanol-free fuel to avoid the problem.

Cheers,
Tom
 
Ethanol is a big problem for a lot of things, not only the rubber seals etc. Some of the earlier alloys
used in carbs and intakes also suffer from being eaten by the fuel with predicable consequences.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top