Potential Horror Story

[PeteGriff]

I had an incident in the Griff yesterday coming back from the Bespoke Performance open day, which could have been catastrophic! Just coming onto the A120 bypass at Stansted towards Braintree, had gone a couple of miles when all of a sudden lost all power, then smell of petrol, saw lay by ahead, shut engine off and coasted into lay-by! When opening bonnet a potential horror story presented itself - the main fuel feed pipe to the fuel rails had popped off spraying fuel at pressure everywhere!! I left the bonnet open to allow fuel to evaporate and engine (and manifolds) to cool! I was so lucky it did not catch fire with all that fuel gushing out!

So, when cooler had a closer look and saw that the clip needed loosening to get it over the flared end of rail pipe then tightening. So went to boot to get screwdriver out of tool kit to then discover (like an idiot) I had taken the toolkit out when fiddling with the targa at home and NOT PUT IT BACK! So like a drip asked another guy parked up and like so many people nowadays no tools with him. I then called up a couple of the Essex guys who were with me at Bespoke and Matt Poxen saved the day by coming to me with a screwdriver (thanks again Matt). So within a few minutes all tightly back and running OK again!

Out of all this there are two really annoying things:

1) When I did the fuel system update with new pump, filter and hoses that were cracked at the rear, I totally forgot the pipe that goes to the fuel rail. I shall be changing that hose with new proper clips before taking Griff out again.
2) NOT putting my toolkit back into the boot

So guys, check the hose and clips on the pipe going to your fuel rail!

Regards, Pete

[PeteGriff]

Hi guys, many thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. I hope to get the Griff up on my lift this week and pick up some of the hi-spec braided hose I used on the fuel pump and filter replacement early this year. If this weeks forecast is as bad as it says i shall be better off sorting whilst weather is naff! Regards, Pete

[PeteGriff]

portzi said:

saved in the nick of time, glad you and your car are safe. As for braided fuel hoses, I have noticed quite afew cars have these fitted to the heat effected zones around the manifold and near the heater pipes. Just a point to note though, I was advised against braided hoses, as they seem the sensible choice to protect against heat, but if the pipe still perishes beneath the braid it is undetectable until its too late? The fuel pipes are part of a service check, but I always check mine at least once a week by physically grabing the hose and twisting it inspecting for an cracking or tearing, but with the braided type this is not possible. Does anyone have any views on this and to the longevity of the braided fuel hoses?

Hi Portzi, the braided hoses I used on my fuel pump and filter were the hi-spec motorsport double braided with ethanol resistant inner tubing. I shall use the same specification for the replacement pipe to my fuel rail. You must be careful when buying this sort of pipe as there is some cheap types out there that is just ordinary rubber covered with a braid! The one used is not cheap but is very robust and the materials very resistant to deterioration and of course cracking. As far as longevity is concerned, it is much better than the older rubber fuel hose (which of course nowadays will degrade badly with the use of ethanol in the latest petrols. Regards, Pete