Workshop Basics

Keep your car running sweetly and avoid spontaneous combustion

How to service the fuel system and achieve smooth running.

ave you looked closely at your car’s fuel system lately? Rubber hose starts to age noticeably after about five years. After ten, it’s probably hardened and cracked. If it’s on the suction side of the fuel pump, a cracked hose will draw in air. This leads to an under-supply of fuel to the carburettor, causing a lack of power at full-load and flat spots further down the performance curve. It also makes starting difficult if the car’s been standing for more than a few days. The cracks dry out and the pump draws air instead of fuel – so it takes

Hages to fill the carburettor. Cracks on the pressurised side of the pump are potentially far more hazardous. Fire is a significant risk, particularly if the hose starts to spray a mist of fuel in the direction of the HT leads.

No doubt you regularly cast an eye over the hoses in your engine bay – and of course you’ve always changed anything that looked ropey. But when did you last look under the car, or around the petrol tank, or at that hidden section that’s somewhere really awkward? We think you should make it your New Year’s resolution to check and overhaul those unglamorous bits of the fuel system that most people forget about. Here’s how to do it.