Well, after seeing Andrew's thread the other day, and on the back of a conversation I recently had with Robert about it, I thought I'd better check my fuel hoses while I was at the garage doing tyres, washers etc.

Imagine my horror when I saw that two of the three rubber hoses running over the top of the engine to the fuel rail, coming from the metal pipes down the back, was well on it's way to cracking up, literally!

There were a few signifigant cracks and splits in it already. I can't believe I never noticed it before. The hoses still look quite new, with the writing on them clearly visible.
I immediately went straight home and wrapped the pipe up in that heavy duty repair tape used for coolant hoses. To be fair it wasn't leaking yet, but I imagine it wasn't too far off it either by the looks of some of the cracks. That will do until I can get a replacement.

Does anyone happen to know the Cit part number for these hoses? They are quite like standard fuel pipe, but the end where they connect to the metal pipes seems to be specially shaped, so I'm not sure if a standard off the reel piece would fit it. I don't suppose GSF or anyone else sell them? After the last fiasco with the coolant hose on my 2.1, I really wouldn't bank on the stealer's ability to get the correct part, or get it in a timely fashion....

One of the hoses in question after wrapping (I forgot to take a pic of the state it was in beforehand ):


Ciarán

Hi Ciaran

It is quite common for cars of this age to suffer from brittle perished fuel pipe, i just went to my local motor factors and got a couple of meters of the stainless braided type, there is no need to subject yourself to a main dealer for this one


Regards
Dean

I'd agree - on my first 2.0SEi I replaced with standard fuel hose from Halfrauds. Only thing you may find is the pipes at each end of the hose may be different diameter - hot water works wonders in helping the hose to relax a little though

Must have a look at the V6 tho, been meaning to for a while, bound to be a much bigger PITA to do with the reay cyl banks sitting where they are.

rgds
Dave

Nice one Dean, cheers.

I'll have to see if I can pick up some of that on Monday, is fuel pipe of a standard diameter?

Thanks

Ciarán

Even 'frauds would have it? Ta for the suggestion Dave

I don't normally go near the place if I can help it, but they do open Sundays and I'd like to get it sorted ASAP...
Failing that, if I have to wait to Monday I'll try and get some of the nice metal stuff Dean mentioned...


Cheers

Ciarán

was quite a few years back, assume they still stock, but these days they're pretty much like a local toy shop rather than a motorists shop.

I'll probably have this to add to my to do list now! Getting the fear! I don't want my XM to go on fire.

The AA actually replaced one in my S1 that was spraying a tiny petrol fountain when the engine was running, this was back in early 2005 and it was really lucky they did as I only noticed ity on the friday before I had to start a new job 30 miles out of town Monday morning back when I only had one XM to worry about.

To be honest it'd been whiffing a bit of petrol for a while before that but I hadn't been driving it much as I'd been working withing walking distance of home until then and was
very cash starved at that time.

If you do smell petrol and the hoses look OK, try tightening the jubille clips.

Hmm, I will have another look at ther S1 car tomorrow.

There's a very strong chance the fuel lines were the main culprit but I'll never know and
I had a weird hard to trace oil leak even after a fresh MOT showed good emissions and
no oil burning problem - that's why I wonder about a leaking rocker onto the exhaust.

I set about getting all my other petrol Xm's checked after the red one was lost and was
shocked to find another 2 weren't brilliant either - you'd not normally see the cracks but
when manipulating the pipe in my fingers I found splits starting to cut deep into the walls.

The correctly shaped pipes aren't silly from Citroen (they are quite convoluted and aren't
simple generic from a factors pipe) and worth it for that peace of mind - I didn't want a
rerun of that experience I can tell you; dragged a whole load of smoke into my lungs
being daft trying to get near the flames to smother them...

Andrew