Safe Speed Forums

As said, how do we spot these. Arose from a visit to a dealer with a fuel leak on a diesel. Pinhole in a flexi pipe had a lot of fuel flying around the engine area. Parts manager diagnosed leak from a high pressure hose line. I got suspicious ,as the pipe in question was a flexi, held in place with pipe clips.On closer inspection, the flexi was a fuel return from the injector pressure system( PD system), to the fuel filter . It had a couple of pinholes in it,and vented fuel when ignition switched on .
I replaced the hose with a bit of standard fuel pipe, with jubilee clips on each end, with no problems. I'd suggest dealer parts manager was not fit for purpose . Their quote =£300+, my repair, approx £2, but ,I've now got the VAG code on the pipe, so I can now look around for a best price at my leisure .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

On any diesel engine High presure lines will always be steel! Even traditional systems operated at 2-3000 PSI CR systems operate at stageringly high pressures (30,000-40,000! comes to mind)

(DONT tamper with them! being sprayed by fuel from a leaking CR system will likley kill you!)

However, many vehicles will use low presure electric lift pumps (the sensible ones) to supply the high presure system and the fuel return pipes will also operate under pressure. These pipes will usually be rubber/plastic and although the pressure is low, any leakage can still be quite messy!

Unfortunatly, dealer parts manages are not mechanics! Most dont have a clue as to what they are looking up or any idea as to how any of it works! Typically I suspect they rely on beiong told, in great detail, what is required. If you dont know exactly what "You" want, the chances of getting the right bit is quite low!

Only yesterday I had the unedifying experiance of hanging around for over 30 mins whilst a "Parts Manager" totally failed to identify the part number for a fuel injector with an inbuilt needle lift sensor on an old pick-up truckl. In part because he had no idea what a needle lift sensor was. Ho Humm....

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

Sounds about right. And in my case ,even the service manager was clueless, but having seen the part I required,I'd have thought he'd have looked at a diagram ( or schematic on a PC) and be able to give me the part no. What is so strange is that most of the staff in this place came from another main dealer which went bust ,and their parts blokes were very knowledgeable, and going back a bit , the Service blokes ( and ladies) at the Ford dealers where I used to take the firms vans were very knowledgeable ( or if they didn't know ,would ask a technician for help) . As the car is a VAG model and the engine is used on other ranges, I did try a nearer VW place .In this case the parts bloke admitted that he couldn't trace the bit . I'm still trying to track down the pipe (as it's got VAG & a partial part no on it ) , but in meantime it's got a bit of re inforced fuel pipe on ,with no signs of problems .( Being an older VAG, it's PD ,and all the lines to the pump ,according to Haynes ,are low pressure.) No way would I even think of playing with a high pressure line .Heard too many warnings of blood poisoning with aerosol cans .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Yes it's a low pressure line. As has been said, all the high pressure ones on "common rail" diesels work under a ferocious pressure. Not sure what the VAG ones are but 1500 Bar (20,000 PSI) is not uncommon! Rather than pressure, you'd just need to know that the rubber hose material (if you can't get an OE replacement) needs to be compatible with today's ultra low sulphur, 5% biofuel diesel.

Got a bit of pipe( from a motor factors) on at moment, but even a VAG specialist doesn't recognise the part ( or find it on schematics ) .Might take it into my honest ( as in he did admit that he couldn't find the part on his system) VW dealer tomorrow and see if it gets recognised . It's got a partial code on it. Or perhaps they replace it with a standard piece . Last resort is a local pipe& hose firm . Next problem is to see why the pipe got pin holes in it . Only logical explanation is that something ( like engine cover ) has pierced it, but it's approx 3.5mm ( inner dia =8mm,outer dia =15mm , hence 15-8/2 =wall thickness). But handling it ,to get part no results in dirty hands( possible breakdown of walls)
Fortunately it's an older PD engine,where Haynes tells me that the fuel is pressurised after this hose .But nice to get it confirmed . TA,ALL


Edit Monday- just back from VAG TPS place in Coventry. Pipe shows on schematic on PC, as fuel pipe ,cut to length . The main dealer that I called into on Friday didn't even check,but quoted a price ( where from I ask) .

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on