Sliced the darn fuel line

Hi all,

In replacing rear shocks, the hex key in the strut centre rounded off, so I went at it with an angle grinder. Worked a charm, new shocks in no problem, sits fine. Issue is, as the space is so tight I nicked a fuel line with the grinder. Thank God I'm still alive!

I'm thinking to chop out a couple of inches and bridge the gap with some rubber line and jubilee clips. This seems doable, though I'm unsure how to drain this line before getting out the cutter.

You can see the line in the top right of the picture - I'm guessing it isn't a return line because a few minutes of idle pissed fuel absolutely everywhere.

Any tips much appreciated, as I've never done this before.

Cheers!

The green part in the picture is the return pipe. https://rimmerbros.com/Item--i-WJP108200
The green connector seems a puh-fitting, so easy to disconnect, I am not sure where to push it, but I should be easy.
But you need the part attached to that, also seen on the rimmerbro link.
It seems you can only get a complete set of all lines, and you only need one.
I think when you disconnect the fuel line only the content of the return pipe will spill, but have a container at hand to catch the fuel.
You can repair it with a rubber line, but I would prefer to mount a new one, or one from a donor MG.

I would also suggest fitting a correct new line, the fuel pump has quite a bit of pressure behind it, so any patching into the fuel line would need a solid insert into the pipes so the jubilee clips can bite down for a proper seal. This insert would cause a restriction in the flow due to reduced diameter of fuel delivery pipe. It may work, but the last thing I would want is for the fuel line to blow off while I am driving the car!

Sundance

SundanceUK wrote:

I would also suggest fitting a correct new line, the fuel pump has quite a bit of pressure behind it, so any patching into the fuel line would need a solid insert into the pipes so the jubilee clips can bite down for a proper seal. This insert would cause a restriction in the flow due to reduced diameter of fuel delivery pipe. It may work, but the last thing I would want is for the fuel line to blow off while I am driving the car!

Sundance

I agree. The fuel is at 3 psi (human blood at circa 2 psi) but any pressure will create some kind of spray effect over the engine if there is a break.

Hi Sundance,

Cheers for the advice. I've sliced out about an inch and have a couple of inches hose overlap with 2 jubilee clips on each side - it feels solid as a rock, and I took it for a full blast after the repair, the hose remained tight and there was no smell or visual evidence of any leaks. I'm keeping spare hose and some proper fuel line tape in the car just in case too. Do you think this would cause problems on a longer journey?

Cheers,
Pablo

Hi Pablo.

It may be ok for now, don't forget fuel hoses also have to be the correct type that do not perish with the contact of fuel liquids. O rings used in fuel lines are of a different type than standard ones. I can see that the line is one that feeds back from the pump. Should not be too difficult to get one posted over from one of the many MG suppliers here in the UK. If it was my car, I would only use the proper part on anything fuel related. It would give me the peace of mind if it was the correct item that was designed for the job. Its your car and the fix may last years, but would you trust it and what about the consequences if it did blow off and a couple of litres of petrol squirted into the engine bay then ignited?
Sundance

Sorry - that repair is not safe on a fuel injected car!

The rubber hose can not take the high pressure in the system.

The jubilee clips will not hold the pressure either.

Get the correct part and be safe.

James

(I had a similar issue on a Renault Espace - the "repair" got me 10 miles and failed on the motorway)