Samco Fuel Hose *** Cautionary Note ***

[bjanesi@domain.elided]

A word of caution to those of you who have purchased the blue Samco fuel
hose from me.  There has been a single incident of a hose failure, and so
I wanted to alert everyone immediately in light of the potential
consequences.    

The failure of this hose occurred because the inner fluorosilicone liner
was pierced by somewhat over-zealous tightening of a narrow (7mm) hose
clamp, allowing fuel to come in contact with the blue silicone outer
layers.  Silicone does not hold up to constant contact with fuel (hence
the reason for the liner), and the life-span of the hose was dramatically
shortened.

There are a couple things you can do to avoid a failure:
1) Do not over-tighten the hose clamps (use two on each end if it makes
you feel better).
2) Use 10mm width or greater hose clamps (12mm preferred, available from
any Saab/Volvo dealer).
3) Regardless of any of this, always carry a fire extinguisher in your
car, Alfa or otherwise.
       
I will be communicating with Samco further on this matter, as I am
concerned that this could happen under any circumstances.  If you want to
take the ultimate precaution and examine your hoses, they'll need to be
examined off the car .  Then it should be pretty easy to see if the liner
is perforated, since you can look down the hose about  2" from the end
with proper lighting.  This is probably unnecessary if you have abided by
either or both of the precautionary steps listed above. 

Note, this issue is not at all relative to the Samco coolant hose which
does not need or use a Flouro' liner.
 
For most of you, sorry for the bandwidth.  Questions off-line at
bjanesi@domain.elided

Thanks,

Brad Anesi
'91 Project 164Q 5-speed  (yes, still completely equipped with Samco
coolant and fuel hose)
 
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