Danica
Silver Member
I just went back to that very first photo that you posted and those hoses really are in terrible condition. I wonder how we all missed that? But we did. Ordinarily I look at hoses only to see if they are leakers or not, but I have once or twice had hoses that collapsed and blocked flow. Just didn't expect to see that much aging on those hoses on a tractor that is not that old.
But there they are. The one hose going up has obvious cracks in the surface and the other one is one of those braided cover hoses that were always "iffy" - and of the sort with fiber reinforcing braid that I haven't seen in decades. The fiber braid is an obvious leak path. At least it does have one of the continuous pressure type hose clamps, and that's good because as a hose ages and hardens any kind of continuous pressure clamp works better than the worm drive clamps.
It still strikes me as odd about those age-cracks in both hoses. Especially with diesel fuel which just isn't that hard on elastomers.
It is normal for rapid aging and cracking to happen in older gas engine hoses when an older hose begins to see gasoline with alcohol in it. And we do know that some diesel additives contain substantial alcohol. I wonder if using certain diesel additives and long storage could be the cause of that premature rubber hose cracking?
Hint, occasionally for a gas engine like our mower or pressure washer I won't be able to find the right size fuel hose for a fitting - or maybe I just want to be able to use a semi-transparent hose. I've had good luck using model airplane fuel line. It's impervious to just about every chemical, flexible, and available in surprisingly large diameters.
YMMV,
rScotty
Excellent advice and i will try it out today!
Thank you
Danica