Here be a cautionary tale to one and all. We all know the importance of re newing fuel lines regulary as the consequences of a rupture may very well be disasterous A few weeks ago whilst checking how many CV boots needed changing for the MOT, I gave the fuel lines an eyeball and decided that they needed to be replaced, espeacialy the tank to pump line; this was deffinately an older vintage Had nt done them in the 4 years I ve had the van, they'd always looked servicable. More fool me! A few days later walkin up the path past the van I could smell petrol, and then a pool of the stuff emerged. Oh My Giddy Aunt! You get my meaning. A quick look and the tank line had popped. Into to the tool bag for the pipe clamp. Firstly I ll give you heads up this pipe is a pain to get a clamp on. Secondly this pipe had more holes in it than my daddies condom! So now there's petrol running out onto the street and I m drenched hed to toe in Esso juice and me nextdoor neighbour comes out of the house with a ciggie on the go.... AAAARRRRGGHHH A frank and rapid converstion ensued. It had all got out of hand,I needed help... 999 The boys arrived and helped with the mop up. By the time they'd got there I had a hose running on the spillage with loads of Fairy, some buckets under the van, and a quarter of a ton of sand that I very luckily had hanging about on the lot. Turns out that's the right thing to do. The lads gave the street a good hose down. Thank you so much guys, there's a donation to the secret firemans ball on the way All I had to do now was wait for a nigh on full tank to drain and get safely stashed. I was fortunate to have a couple of blue barrels with sealable lids. The fire brigade said they were adequate. I thank The Big G In The Sky that nothing to untoward came about. If I d been drving it, itd been Boom Ago Go! For crying out loud folks keep those fuel lines tip top!!!!!!!! More came about because of this but that's for later...
Learned my lesson when exactly the asme happened onto Tarmac outside my house that was about a week old - instant pothole. Just done mine again as the tank connection was seeping - about 4/5 years old pipe. Close call mate!
We did the westy's back in 2011 when we first bought him, Gusbus has new fuel lines too..alls well. What I do wonder is if, for the cost and time taken in renewing the fuel lines, is it worth making an effort to change them every three years to err on the side of caution?
problem of it is, with the addition of ethanol, old fuel lines that were happy to go hard and only break if you got hold of them and pulled hard, now go rotten as the ethanol eats them from the inside out!! Change your fuel lines peeps and be happy in the knowledge that you'll have safe motoring for 3 years easy!! Actually talking of old fuel lines... I did a service on my dads work jeep today, and the old fuel lines were splitting, but one of them (the worst) was the original flexi feed to the fuel filter... the jeep was made in 1997
Sounds a close call!! I had the same with a friends bay but I could only sell the petrol, I made the choice not to drive it anywhere, Turned out the filler neck had gone! Makes it all the more worth it to install a fire extinguisher just in case! We traded at the weekend with vw aircooled works who supply them, And the amount of stories I heard of people who weren't so Lucky!! Did anyone see the burnt out bay near the club Display?? Or anyone have a Pic?
Had the perished filler elbow as well. The previous owner had as well and replaced it with coolind system pipe ala only suitable for water
When I bought my Westy a few buses ago I knocked a few £ off because it steered at the kerb. I went straight to the local tyre place to have the tracking set. It was jammed up so while the bloke was applying some heat to free it, I had a poke about. I barely touched the pipe from the tank and it snapped in two. Cue me holding pipe stub with petrol running down my arm and bloke with gas welding torch a few feet away with his back to me oblivious. When I got his attention he turned round and pointed it at me! All ended well, but I'm careful with petrol pipes since then.
Hi Scott I will email you the pictures Pete sent of his van after the fire, looks horrific. Never seen a steering wheel melted before. He is putting one of our fire suppression systems in. When I looked at his van he had 25kg extinguisher in the back just in case. Felt so sorry for him. http://www.vwaircooledworks.co.uk/Fire-Extinguisher-System.html regards colleen
