Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) A word of caution - Fuel Lines

Not wishing to be alarmist, but please read.

Please read carefully the email posted on MogTalk below. I have been harping on about the issue with ethanol in petrol nowadays and its impact over time on fuel lines and seals, especially rubber. It caused the failure of our 2003 BMW Mini Cooper S submerged high pressure diaphragm pump 3 years ago. So I would inspect carefully and replace if in doubt. I believe 95 Octane now has a minimum of 5% ethanol up to 10% and 97/98 octane from main petrol companies I believe is around 3% with additives to increase octane. Ethanol is corrosive to rubber and plastics over time and becomes acidic if it separates from petrol if beyond its shelf life(30 days in vented tank, 90 days sealed) and then absorbs H2O and becomes more corrosive. So cars left standing are are more susceptible to this.

Regards

Adrian

This may be of help

Fuel Lines and Ethanol

"Hi David and Sue.
The following may be of interest to our readers, The Morgan Motor Company and even national dealerships re fuel effects on rubber lined braided fuel pipes etc.

I have steel braided hoses on the fuel injection system of my Plus 8. I have not renewed them since owning the car so not sure how long they have been on, although purchased from a Morgan main agent. Whilst taking her today to my local service garage for a simple oil and filter change just before I reached the garage I noticed an extremely strong smell of fuel, she began to misfire and before I knew it my feet where covered in fuel as was the whole engine and manifold on the off side. Very lucky if she had ignited it would have gone off like a bomb and I dread to think what would have happened to me. When the garage lifted the bonnet the braided fuel pipe was like a garden sprinkler with many leaks through the braiding shooting fuel under pressure all over the engine and even through the bulkhead onto my feet and the carpet.. I have been told that even the slightest smell of fuel in the garage, often taken as a general engine smell, could suggest a perished fuel line.


Questions I believe should be addressed.

1. Are metal braided rubber hoses satisfactory for Morgan injection systems?

2. If they are what is the recommended shelf life?.

3. Does the company use braided hoses and if so what is the life expectancy?

4 Does the company recommend an alternative safer replacement – Teflon etc?

I believe as a club we should take this issue extremely seriously (especially as I have now brought to the clubs attention) as there may only be one incident of a serious engine fire but it could be fatal, as mine could have been today. I believe he Morgan Motor Company should give their professional advice to members and dealerships alike.

Best wishes

Tony"

Scary. I use stabil to keep the fuel stable over the winter.

My lawnmower & hedge trimmer have all suffered from this.

My hedge trimmer melted its fuel pipes.

so did mine !

I couldn't work out why my hedge trimmer would start & stop once on it's side. Checked the fuel lines & in the tank they had dissolved completely.

The fuel tank on my mower was / is plastic and rotted through like rusty steel.

Did Morgan change pipe materials in the last 10 years to deal with this, or are we all susceptible regardless of car age?

I don't mean to sound picky but "steel braided" or "metal covered rubber" is not an adequate description to determine whether or not it might be suitable as fuel line. Shielded hose comes in many varieties formulated to resist all manner of different chemicals. If yours is factory original it may have failed from simple old age. If replaced somewhere along the line, it might not have been properly specced. It is true that modern fuel contains compounds that can cause problems with some older materials but those used in modern cars handle it very well.
Hope this helps,
Phil

My hedge trimmer didn't & it was bought in 2007

Although I am very grateful for any "Be Aware" messages from fellow TMer's, my Ride on mower is 16 years old and has not suffered this problem YET, but thank you for posting.

We had a branded and certified section of hose come off the conector on our throttle body fuel line while we were on tour in france last year. Petrol everywhere and a very alarmed Fortunately we were only doing about 50kph at the time and it was soon reconnected with the help of my trusty Swiss Army knife. I was at a loss to understand how it could have come off.

When I was at Omex last year they examined and found some deterioration. The hose was replaced and I was given some spare. They told me that they were not aware of any other problems and were concerned that it may have been a bad batch. I had been using some French fuel with 10% ethanol when high octane was not available, so perhaps that explains it.

In any case I regularly check the replacement section and it seems perfect so I think the original section of hose to the injector fuel rail must have been from a bad batch.

It certainly is something to keep an eye on. The original Morgan hose that I can see looks perfect.