505 Turbo plastic fuel line repair

[Bean]

I was smelling whiffs of gas every time I took my little girl out of her car seat, but there were no spots under the car and no trace of leaks in the trunk. Took a peak under the car and saw that the one plastic line from the top of the filter to the chassis hard line was weeping fuel.

I didn't notice the line when I changed the fuel filter since it was covered in undercoating, but now the fuel had dissolved it off to find the line had been wrapped with electricians tape. Inside the tape was wire, and even the pull tab off a pop can - all likely to give the line support and to stop it from kinking which it does very easily.

I was hoping to take it on to have some nice braided line crimped on to the old fittings, but the place that can do it is only open on weekdays - so I needed a decent fix in the interim. Took the plastic lines apart:

I found that 1/4" (6.5mm) fuel line was a perfect fit onto the barbed fittings, and a couple of high pressure fuel line clamps made for a nice replacement hose:

And it installed:

Future plan will be to redo the plastic line from the pump to the filter bottom - and possibly redo this line with proper crimped ends and higher spec fuel line. Braided likely isn't needed, but nice piece of mind since it's under car.

I figured I needed to put my iPhone 4 to good use as one of the reasons to get it was to more easily document work on the car. Not the greatest pics - but they do illustrate well enough to be useful.

Rabin

[andrethx]

just saw this thread! must have missed it a few days ago when you posted it.

Inside the tape was wire, and even the pull tab off a pop can - all likely to give the line support and to stop it from kinking which it does very easily.

goodyear makes a product to prevent hose kinks -- it's a wire coil that can be placed around hoses & bent to the correct position...it comes in different sizes for different-sized hoses. maybe this was the wire that was under the tape?

how did you insert the barbs into the hoses? this is high-pressure hose, correct?

andré

[Bean]

Wire under the tape looked like a big ass paper clip, crudely bent out of thick wire and then taped to the side of the line. Same with the pop can tab - it was cut in half and bent into a "U" shape and taped onto the line. So no - not at all close to the goodyear coils. I picked up some of those coils for heater hoses just in case I needed them for some of the N9TE hoses, but haven't needed them so far.

Inserting was easy as the hose just pushed on. and the high pressure clamps are almost too small - but not quite. When I redo the fuel system with upgraded pump(s), I'll take the fittings to the guy in town that makes brake lines and custom hydraulic lines to get some nice braided lines done up.

I'll have to do some research - pretty sure the stock lines will be plenty for my power goals, but I'd like to make sure.

Rabin

[tulaweb]

goodyear makes a product to prevent hose kinks -- it's a wire coil that can be placed around hoses & bent to the correct position...it comes in different sizes for different-sized hoses.

I haven't seen Goodyear coils but I have a bunch of those by Gates that I've used on 3/4 inch coolant hoses.