fuel pipe

Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:17 pm

Just removed my fuel tank on my 320 prefacelift, before reffiting i want to renew the fuel pipes as they look past their best

looks like its 8mm high pressure from the external pump to the metal fuel lines and the same for the return

what i want to know is

a) is the 12mm hose from the tank to the external pump high pressure?

b) is there a lift pump inside the tank on these models? (was going to have a look at the weekend but ran out of daylight)

c) what sort of pipe is it that runs from the top of the tank up into the body and back out in the drivers rear wheel arch? looks like just a huge breather does this need to be fuel hose or will heater hose sufice for this?

any advice would be great, cheers in advance!

Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:47 pm

Not too sure on A and B,my experience is with later cars with an in-tank pump.

The breather should be the same,though.It's a fabric covered hose in an odd internal diameter that does not seem to be readily available,except from BMW at a rather high price,if you can locate an alternate,I would like to know...I have had leaks from this area on both cars,but have been able to trim back the end of the hose and re-fit,but there will not be enough slack to do it again!

Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:24 am

A: No, 12mm pipe from tank is low pressure

B: Yes (well, it has what RealOEM calls a "sending unit")

daimlerman wrote: The breather should be the same,though.It's a fabric covered hose in an odd internal diameter that does not seem to be readily available,except from BMW at a rather high price,if you can locate an alternate,I would like to know...I have had leaks from this area on both cars,but have been able to trim back the end of the hose and re-fit,but there will not be enough slack to do it again!

Amen to that, when the tank is over half full it's suprising the amount of fuel that goes through these breathers. The i/d is 14mm. Unfortunately the o/d is also crucial because if you go any bigger than the OEM hose it wont fit in under the covered channel in the wheel arch. If you find any alternative supplier please let us know ! (I even went to a fuel hose manufacturer to ask for 14mm i/d pipe and the guy I spoke to looked at me with a blank face saying he'd never even heard of it being made.....)

I priced up changing all the hoses at the back of my prefacelift 325i with OEM hoses last year: More than 200â‚¬ not including hose clips

Tue Feb 15, 2011 8:12 am

Ok, I've found this hose on a US site,

14mm id fuel vent for a Golf GTI 8V

http://www.redlinemotive.com/store/repl ... =000196671

This must be available in Europe somewhere, if not aftermarket it's probably cheaper in VW than in BMW....

Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:53 pm

ok guys thanks for the response, going to the local part supplier tommrow to see what they have in

do i need to run all this ventalation system on a track only car? obviously tank needs some sort of vent but there seems to be a lot going off in the wheelarch behind the fuel flap