No problems, right? (rhetorical!)  







....nothing to see here....


This hose PASSED its last WOF/MOT(six months ago), before THIS test picked up on it....Damn....    

HOW could you NOT see this - visually - if you were doing a WOF/MOT?(rhetorical again!)

Wow...

This line is within about 200mm or so, of the rear exhaust muffler.
Fire hazard much?  

Not all garages are equal.

---

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

Don't be so surprised......If it ain't leaking it don't need fixing.
However, a lot of rubber fuel line is not as good as it used to be, (or affected by crappy fuel )some of it just turns hard and brittle and will go unnoticed until it gets bumped and broken.

Hi Grogster, do you have fuel with ethanol in it?
That stuff is renowned for destroying rubber parts.
How old is the vehicle that hose was on?
As Aaron said, fuel lines and most other stuff has gone downhill a lot, as far as quality goes. It may be just rubbish materials or a combination of heat, age and maybe even ethanol
pete

  Quote  

As Aaron said, fuel lines and most other stuff has gone downhill a lot

The layer of rubber inside the braiding is usually better quality and can tolerate most fuels and the braiding provides pressure resistance. But the outer layer is just there to give it kink resistance and they do use cheap rubbish for that.

On the Ethanol content, I have no idea.  Our fuel probably does have some of that in the formula, but I'd have to research it to find out.

REGARDLESS of if the ethanol in the fuel was attacking the hose for WHATEVER reason, this cracking has been going on for longer then six months to get THAT bad, so it should have been spotted in the WOF/MOT.

1972 classic Mini Clubman.

Hi Grogster, I guess it comes down to just how thorough the mechanic doing the MOT test is.
If they just get a fixed fee for the MOT they probably rush through the most likely things to check. Such as brakes, oil leaks, rust, exhaust etc.
Looking further would be chewing into their profit margin, where they could be making more money fixing some other car.
If the hose is original from a 1972 car then , it is past its use by date.
I would be checking all the other rubber hoses too, like brake hoses etc.
In the old days VW Kombi vans had a nasty habit of catching fire. The rubber fuel line went from the tank to the engine through the firewall. The hose used to rub through, spilling fuel all over a hot air cooled engine.
It is best to trust your own eyes and be thorough on ancient vehicles, or any vehicle really
Pete

Pete back when I was an apprentice a work mate converted a Kombie van to a porche motor and the fun we had getting over the pits became a joke where in the end the accesor asked what it would do over the 1/4 mile   before passing it.

Now with the E10 fuel I was told a story where yes the fuel is cheaper the chance of even getting 10% is very slim so just treat it like unleaded fuel.

Never had a problem will fuel hose using E10 so I just treat it as cleaning function if I ever get that full 10%  

Regards Bryan