Message from Southways - please read

[Kitchski]

(Mods - not an advert, please don't remove)

Hi all,

If you had, or own a car that once had a chassis refurbishment (or renewed fuel lines alone) carried out by us, please read the attached link and get in touch. There's a chance your car is affected, and we want to check it out as soon as possible:

Recall Notice

We don't think there's a chance many cars will be, due to the fact we purchase in small quantities, so if there has been a dodgy batch of hose, we didn't buy much of it to start with.

Not a post I wanted to make, and rest assured we're thoroughly pissed-off that something we had no control over is going to be something that invariably harms us as a business. And we're a very small business.

Please read the notice, get in touch if you think you could be affected and let us check it out before you go bombing around for the summer. If your car is affected, we'll re-pipe it as a warranty job, regardless of mileage covered or time elapsed since the refurbishment. No cost to you.

Thanks

Rich

[Kitchski]

Just to update this:

• So far we've have around 7 or 8 affected cars (including my own).
• The hose affected has only been the SAE J30R9 hose, which is unbranded and uses block capital white lettering.
• We've had an isolated case of a hose marked '400-series' fail, which was fitted to a single car. This is the only hose that has actually weeped any fuel and was only fitted to one car (and has now been rectified)
• One of the hoses was stamped 10/2014, yet had failed already.
• They're failing on the outside of swept curves, and around the bulges caused by the flares on the end of the copper/Kunifer pipes too.
• When they have fuel in them, they feel soft. Drain them and remove them, and they go rock hard.
• I've seen this type of hose for sale in Halfords, Euro Car Parts and on various online supplier's websites, as well as eBay and the like.
• We're now using Continental, Goodyear or Gates Barricade, the later of which we're hoping to set up a supply for.
• We *think* we've addressed all the affected cars now, but please double check if you're not sure, or even if you've done your hoses recently - one of our customers happened to mention he'd done it, and found his car was affected. He was only in for a service!
• The hose isn't failing internally, or causing any contamination of the fuel system. It's the inner membrane absorbing the Ethanol (we think) which is then drying out the outer membrane, causing the fracturing.

[330p4]

Whilst not a customer of yours can I just say the fact you made this post in the first place would encourage me to use your services if nearer geographically it is a measure of a company how they sort out problems in my view I think a lot of less responsible companies would have kept quiet and blamed any failures on the hose supplier I am sure others will feel as I do and you will benefit from this honesty in the long run. Good luck to you and your business in the future
Ian

[Kitchski]

Another update on the ongoing fuel hose saga:

Not a recall as we think we've covered all ours now, but more of a heads up. Took a Chimaera in for a 6k service, and it appears to have had the fuel hoses over the bellhousing renewed in recent years, as you do if you're working in that area.

While the engine was running, I could see something amiss with the hoses, so advised the customer we change them due to the ongoing issues, and the fact some minor cracking was visible in the engine bay.

When we removed the hoses, I was surprised to see they were not the usual type that fails (unbranded, block capital white text saying "SAEJ30 R9 FUEL INJECTION HOSE 7.6MM" and the like. This stuff is branded as (as read on the hose itself):

"UNIVERSALKRAFTSTOFF FLENNOR GERMANY 7.0MM MULTICARBURANT 7.0MM UNIVERSELE BRANDSTOFF MULTIFUEL MULTI CARBURANTE 0210110"

Sounds like a Welsh village, eh?

No date stamp on the hose, and a quick Google search has yielded no additional info. It's possible that it's not suitable as fuel injection hose, but if a garage has fitted this (we're pretty sure we know who's done it, looking at the history) then a retail customer could easily be mistaken and have fitted it too.

The images are lifted from our Facebook page, and I'd urge you to use that as the first port of call when looking for info as that is the most up to date online platform we have. The website is too much of a faff to work with!

You don't need to sign in to Facebook to view the page, or give it any of your details - it's public access.

https://www.facebook.com/SouthwaysAutomotive/posts...

This is the hose as it sits on my desk:



This is the same hose with 20PSI inside:



(Chimaera's fuel system runs at 38PSI)

We now only install Gates Barricade hose on any of our jobs (or regular Gates fuel hose if Barricade isn't available). Barricade is designed to work with Bio-fuels and Marine fuels, and is an R14 grade hose, only with increased working pressure limits (225PSI).
We've had a few people ask if we are actually able to supply the Gates hose, as it's notoriously hard to source. We're not at a point where we could be classed as a stockist, but we may be able to help if you get stuck or have an emergency issue such as this.

So if you've got the above hose, or this hose:



....then you need to act. Now.