smartypants

Hi TLer's :

Has anyone have experience in changing fuel lines ?

There seems to be several lines going from the engine compartment to the fuel tank and the EVAP system all nicely contained in a plastic "basket". Unfortunately the basket also holds in an ice/salt solution which ate through my break lines.

I'm expecting a fuel leak at any time. Anyone ever changed these lines ?

All replies gratefully received.

Cheers !

Smarty.

smartypants

I guess I'm the only one who has this issue. I'm surprised, I thought I'm see some "northern" owners also have this situation.

smarty.

Gabru678

iTrader: (1)

Did you ever end up doing it?

Googie

My brake lines rusted and one of them popped in that location. My mechanic told me they had to replace all 3 lines (2 brake and 1 fuel). Acura dealership gave me the same story. Wasn't cheap. I had the mechanic do it...

01tl4tl

rust--the bane of automobiles

If you live where they use salt or there is salt air,,you have to get under the car and gently rinse it now and then

I use to take a jeep for 100 mile runs on the beach,,what a nightmare it was rinsing that thing completely underneath!!

smartypants

As I predicted, I'm now "officially" leaking fuel. I also have been troubling shooting a P1456 (Fuel Side Evap Leak) which I now suspect is related to the fuel leak.

For posterity, there are five metal lines running in a plastic "basket-like" channel running under the length of the car.

2- L&R Rear Brakes
1 - Fuel
1 - Fuel Return
1 - Fuel Vent

With these lines all enclosed in the plastic "basket", ice and salt collects inside and all around these lines, eventually rusting them out. The plastic basket does not allow the ice to naturally fall away and keeps the salt in place for some considerable amount of time time. I needed to replace the brake lines a few years ago and now the main fuel line is leaking, but probably started with the vent and return lines, causing the P1456. You know the main fuel line is leaking due to fuel on the ground but the other two do not carry fuel and therefore unless you pressure test the lines or get the P1456 code, you would never know.

I suspect leaks from any of these lines will cause the P1456 as it depressurizes the entire fuel system.

I will be replacing the lines which will confirm my suspicions are correct.


smarty

victus1

Instead of replacing the whole line, is it possible to cut out the rusted portion and connect a fuel rated hose in place?

smartypants

All options are on the table at this point. I've had a terrible run of luck in the past six months...HID's, CAT, O2 senors, Trans rebuild (which necessitated a T-Belt kit), trunk seal and AC freon top-up (thankfully only that).

Even with aggressively making the best deals I could, I've dropped over $3K into a car that is worth just about the same. Now this.

Had I known all this was going to happen at the time of the O2 sensors replacement, the car would have gone to the bone yard.

smarty.

yungone501

iTrader: (4)

3M makes a great product that's a rubberized underbody spray which is similar to the truck bed coatings except it's not "grainy" and doesn't get nearly as hard. This ideal for spraying beneath your car especially on the components that aren't coated with the factory underbody spray. Perfect for fuel lines, brake lines, suspension/steering components, etc... I damn near coated the entire bottom side of my car with 6 cans of that stuff including my fenderwells and it turned out amazing. Not only does it give that clean, fresh out of the factory look, but it protects from getting into these types of situations! Highly recommend it.

I also recommend extensively cleaning and prepping all surfaces you plan on coating to increase product life on the vehicle. I power washed the underside and fenderwells of the car, followed by a long soak with Simple Green, a large soft wire brush on the stubborn areas, and another power wash. Let it dry for a few hours using a large fan to speed the process and then handled up. Do it!

smartypants

I've now had all three fuel lines replaced plus had them remove the "basket" completely. Apparently, in order to install lines a complete end-to-end set of lines, you need to drop the front sub-frame and so to significantly reduce the cost, I had them "splice in" the new lines at the firewall. This upper section of the lines did not show any signs of rust at all.

As a recap, I previously changed the break lines and now the fuel lines, which means that all five lines in this "basket" have been replaced.

I will be resetting the CEL to clear the P1456 code to see if this clears it.

Fingers crossed.....


smarty

victus1

If a do-it-yourselfer wanted to replace the fuel lines, does anyone know if it is possible to use some fuel-rated flexible hose to make the job easier?

yungone501

iTrader: (4)

Although you could probably get away with it, running any form of flexible fuel line generally means that the line will have higher swelling properties which will cause fuel pressure fluctuation before the FPR which is not ideal for obvious reasons. However, factory steel fuel lines also is what required Honda to use the fuel pulsation dampener due to the almost nonexistent 'give' that it causes. This is because it was also very good at carrying pressure drops and spikes brought about by inconsistent fuel pump voltages. This is why most car manufacturers (including Honda/Acura) have now moved the FPR inside the fuel tank and is generally part of the fuel pump assembly. But for your application, the idea wouldn't be a smart one IMO...

TLer trash

I think the industry standard is about 14" -18" maximum for flexible fuel lines. That said, if you used high pressure fuel injection hose I believe it would work, but look extremely amateurish. I mean you could plumb your house with garden hose if you wanted to. Another consideration is the cost of f/inj hose is over $12 a foot retail, and you have to bubble flare the ends of the steel line to secure the rubber hose to it. Or use compression to barb transition fittings. If you're dead set against using steel, you might look into nylon lines and transition fittings at an auto parts store. These are also substantially more expensive than steel.

smartypants

In the interest of helping future owners, I had the fuel lines replace in order to fix a CEL code P1456 and reset the CEL code on September 27th. Today is October 13th and I have not had the Code re-appear.

I am reporting this now because the code should have showed up by now and the only thing that changed was the fuel lines. So barring a return of that code. the evidence is clear.

I will not update this thread if the code does not come back and will leave this for posterity.

3.2TLc

Thanks Smarty for following up on the P1456 code and your work towards resolving the problem. If everybody would be so considerate, it'd make our "Acurazine" forum so much better for those left hanging and not knowing what it really took to fix the issue at hand.

turtleh

I'm constantly in the same predicament. However I spent WAY more than 3k.

My tranny rebuild was 3400, 1000 on Air con, and at least another 3000 on control arms, sway bar links, idle air control valve and other stuff I cant remember.

Now Im 20km past timing belt and got no money. And the car is in the shop for the same issue with brake and fuel lines and I have to fork out almost 1000 for it. This is toronto too... why do I always feel like Im paying the most in this city?