I noticed a blister the other day on one of my fuel lines. See pic. After seeing pics on this forum of folks who have lost their beautiful cars to fire, I was VERY motivated to get this fixed.
I was reluctant to modify a design that MB engineers came up but did. I cut off the 'pressed-on' or heat shrunk on or how ever they were installed, hoses, and installed standard fuel line and clamps. It was interesting to discover that I could rotate the factory hose against the metal, but it was not leaking.
Next time I get the car on a rack, I'll investigate just how hard it would be to replace the line with the proper MB part. The factory tubing has a hard plastic liner which has been mentioned here before. I hope you can see it in one of my pics. Replacing this with standard fuel line, even though it has working and burst pressures of 150+psi and 400+psi, respectively, makes me a little nervous. That flimsy and flexible line waving around in the engine bay makes me a little uncomfortable.
If you do this, be super careful not to score the barb as you're cutting off the old line. I started by making a cut along the axis of the hose but quickly realized I could not adequately determine the depth of my cut. So I changed to shaving off layers until I could see the barb start to appear. You don't have to completely expose it before the hose will pull off.
This is not a difficult project and the pics should speak for themselves. I read in another post that the hard lines do not come pre-bent from MB. I don't know if the lines spoken of are the ones I was working on but if they are, this fix may make a little more sense.
It will last longer and keep fuel cooler. The original hoses there are pretty thick most after market hoses are thinner than that one. Some of them came with a protective sleeve.
I sincerely hope you used fuel injection rubber hose, if not, you really need to replace the new line. Hose should be marked For Fuel Injection on the hose, or words to that effect.
Chadahar, it is fuel hose but I don't know if it's fuel injection hose. It's what the local distributor sells to all the local independent shops and I know that its pressure rating is way over what the system requires. I'll dig a little deeper.
Working Pressure: 145 psi or 10 bar
Bursting Pressure: 435 psi or 30 bar
Temperature Range: -22F to 194F
COHLINE # 2134 0800
Approved for gasoline, diesel fuel, water, air, and heating oil.
COHLINE 2134 OIL/PETROL FUEL HOSE - 7.5mm bore x 13.5mm od
Working Pressure 10 bar
Smallest bending radius 30mm
Maximum coil length supplied - 20 metres
This Superior Hose is designed to meet
COHLINE 2134 - DIN 73379 - 2A (edition 11/97)
Construction: Fuel Hose with middle permeation
inside NBR, textile braiding inside,
outside CR (abrasion resistant outer rubber layer)
Application and Temperature Range:
Commercial fuels, especially super grade fuels up to a max 50 % Benzol -22deg F up to +122deg F
Water, air, heating oil...................................................................... -22deg F up to +194deg F
Diesel fuels (gasoil) with RME - addition........................................ -22deg F up to +149deg F
short-term up to 230deg F
The hose I got from Summit Racing was Dayco Fuel Injection hose rated at 225 psi. The double clamps I didn't do, although they are required on marine applications, I didn't think the barbs were long enough. They aren't leaking anyway and I used the rolled edge clamps as well
I am going on 3 years with mine - no issues and I apply bro-juice to the rubber in the engine bay. I used one BMw (I know right) fuel hose clamp for each line. Still holding well, and when I just did my oilers, I inspected them and no signs of fracturing due to heat.
I was wondering how those were put together... Mine are cracking and I want to replace them with stainless, but couldn't figure out how the connections worked. So there is a normal hose barb under there.
When I did my lines back in January when I had just bought the SEC I found barbs on all those replaced, the differences in being HOW the hoses were assembled. Two different kinds I found, one being what appeared to be just pushed on and the other having a brass sleeved crimped over the hose. The first can be done by CAREFULLY using a box cutter/razor knife to cut down to the barb (careful you don't nick it), pull off the old and replace with new plus a rolled edge injection clamp. The crimped one is a little tricky but is easy enough too. I used a hack saw and cut at an angle just through the brass crimp all the way up to where the metal line is until I could snap it and remove the crimped part (it fits in a small groove at the top end), pull the old hose and like the other replace with new and a clamp. All told it took a couple of hours but that's partly due to my not being able to stay bent over the fender for more than a few minutes at a time
My thinking on breaking/cutting a hard line (steel) is that you would be creating yet another connection with potential for leaks in a place harder to see. I got this idea from 281lxm and as he stated his has held up for 3 years now and no leaks
Let me add, the majority of these lines were done ON the car as the hard lines went down the firewall and under the car somewhere and/or I couldn't get the connections broke loose and wasn't about to mess one of THOSE up
I replaced the complete system ordering parts from the dealer, the three lines arrived complete with the metal ends. I was recommended against just replacing the rubber. Fuel and fire are two things that scare the life out of me. The main lines were hellish to do since the subframe had to drop a little. Ask away as I had to have it all done. Brake line had to be repaired in march and now the SLS line is leaking but that's another thread
torrem3, I'd welcome at least a little detail on your project. Lower the subframe? Ouch. I sure don't want to go through all that. But I also don't want to go through a fire.
Maybe there's a way to cut and splice the hard line in the engine bay to avoid having to thread a whole new line like you did.
I.D. is good at 7.5mm but I'd want to know the working pressure. It mentions EFI and if that's referring to D-jet, you're only talking about 30psi vs the 85psi on KE-jet.
If you're going to break the hard line, might as well braze on some AN fittings and connect the hoses that way. Easier maintenance in the future, but if you use the stainless braided teflon, it'll probably last forever.
I seem to have both styles on my car, like the PO replaced only one of the lines. The other one without the crimp is cracking pretty badly.
I believe that crimp isn't really a crimp as in clamped tight. I think it's just a snug-fitting sleeve to resist any attempts by the hose to swell and get loose on the barb and then blow itself off. I think the hose with the sleeve is the pressure side and the hose without the sleeve is the return line.
That was the old, here is the new, 5 months out and not a drop leaked. also, the copper/brass looking thingy is the fuel cooler and has since been wrapped in foam pipe insulation, help with the A/C operation as well as cooling the fuel for an increase in HP
A Dremel tool and thin cut-off wheel will make short work of the crimped end caps. Of course, a hack saw works too, but will take longer.
I made a set for a car eight years ago. They're still fine. I did double clamp them, both ends, with rolled edge clamps.
I would not be so swift to use the stainless braided line. I have it from a couple of good sources that, while they look great, all the production money goes into the stainless and not so much into the hose itself (i.e. not the best quality hose). Take it for what it's worth.
I would not be so swift to use the stainless braided line. I have it from a couple of good sources that, while they look great, all the production money goes into the stainless and not so much into the hose itself (i.e. not the best quality hose). Take it for what it's worth.
Here's my version. Hoses are teflon and rated for 1500psi. I want to find someone who has the crimp tool for a real pro look, but the originals didn't even have clamps, so I'm sure the ones I have are good enough.
Kind of tightens the sphincter when you see 56 bux for a plastic tube.
I just today bought two pieces of 124.036 specific fender cladding. 1L and 2R in the entire universe and they were 210 each. Less than 1 sq foot of molded plastic for 210 bux. Glad my care was only 1 of 31 imported to USA in that color scheme. Just sayin....
I've never felt warm and fuzzy over the floppiness of the replacement hose I installed. And I liked 1mbzdoc's suggestion to install a sleeve over the hose.
I couldn't find a hose that slipped nicely over my Cohline hose but I did find some shrink wrap and decided to give it a try. It looks good, stiffens up the hose so it's more like the original, and gives the hose one more layer of protection against abrasion. I used 3/4" shrink that was labeled as 2:1.
As an aside, I heated a spare piece until it wouldn't shrink any more and sure enough, it was exactly 3/8", 2:1.
Bottom line is as long as it doesn't leak :thumbsup:
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