Smelly fuel hose - watch out for it.

[MalcolmV8]

I know a lot of guys run new fuel hose when doing these V8 Ranger swaps myself included years ago. I recently put a whole new fuel system on my Cobra and converted from a return less fuel system to a return and ran all new fuel hose etc.
After priming the system I immediately had a heck of a gas smell in the garage like there was a open gas container. I immediately thought I had a leak. I tore apart the whole car re-tracing every fuel hose and re-checking every connection, dropped the gas tank again, pulled out wheels, wheel wells etc. and came up empty. Nothing, no leaks. However I noticed the fuel hose it self stunk really bad. If you sniffed the hose itself it was like the fuel was leaking right through the hose only it was dry.

Long story short I called a few manufactures including Fragola (the hose I used) and Aeroquip and they all confirmed this very annoying and horrible smell. Apparently it has to do with the Ethanol and other additives been put in gasoline now days. Apparently the smell molecules are so tiny they go right through the rubber and stink. There's no fuel leak but the smell is really really bad. It was 10F outside and I had my garage doors open day & night for a couple days trying to get the house to not stink.

I've had to take all that hose off and store it in the shed to get the smell out. The fix apparently is to use a teflon hose (PTFE). Teflon hose is apparently the only flexible hose offered by the manufactures right now that nothing gets through and will have no smell or issues. I spent approx $500 on the Fragola 8000 series push lock hose and all the fittings and the same setup in Teflon from Pegasus Racing is going to be about $1000. So it's not cheap but the smell is not an option.

Final note. It depends on your fuel. Every part of the country has different amounts of Ethanol and additives in their fuel. Some will have no smell and others will have serious issues like there's gas dumped on the floor.
Just a heads up for anyone about to plumb a new fuel system.

[plowboy34]

That's just crazy....thanks for the info. I am surprised the companies actually admit that.

[MalcolmV8]

It really pisses me off the vendor didn't tell me about it before purchasing the Fragola hose. I had heard bits and pieces of this fuel smell issue on forums but never really paid attention to it. Then when I was about to do my fuel system I called the vendor first and asked specifically about the fuel smell and they assured me there would be no smell and that people with a smell have leaking hose ends.
After I got the smell and called them backup suddenly they say oh we get this every so often and it's just a crap shoot as to whether you'll have it or not. WTF. Then they offered me some other Aeroquip hose but I declined and decided to start calling manufactures and investigating for myself and that's when I found out the real problem. I told the vendor I want a refund since I specially checked with them about the fuel smell before purchasing the hose. At this time I haven't received an answer. They're supposed to let me know sometime this week.

[carvinmark]

That's just crazy. Please let us know if they take care of you, they should.

[cgrey8]

The hose didn't have a putrid smell before it flowed gasoline?

I wonder what it would smell like with E85 flowing? The last E85 I bought for my truck didn't have much smell at all. It had a very faint smell of gasoline, but otherwise almost smelled sweet.

[MalcolmV8]

Chris, the hose has no smell prior to gasoline. It's just like any other rubber fuel hose. Once you run gas through it though it smells like the gas is just pouring out on the ground. It's crazy how the gas smell goes right through it like there's a hole in the hose.

Carvinmark, still fighting the vendor for my money back. So far I've managed to get a partial refund.

[carvinmark]

I'm shocked that they gave you anything back, even though they should refund in full. Wonder if running this site has anything to do with the partial refund? Good luck.

[MalcolmV8]

Doubt it, they have no idea I own the site. They screwed up plain and simple and they know it. I've gone back and forth with them with messages and letters written via email. It's hard for them to say they're not wrong when I called and specifically questioned the smell prior to purchase, they also acknowledged I wasn't the first one to complain when I did. I've called a couple manufactures and both confirmed the smell is a problem with the hose when ethanol and certain additives are in the fuel.
So either the vendor just flat out lied to me when I called taking a chance I wouldn't have the smell or they were not informed on the product they are reselling. Either way I was miss led with false info prior to purchase.

After going back and forth with them for a couple weeks now they finally decided to refund me the cost of the hose but not any of the hose ends as they say there was nothing wrong with the hose ends. Well it's nice to get something back and true there's nothing wrong with the hose ends in that they were not defective but they're specific to the Fragola push lock hose and were only purchased to be used with that hose. There's nothing else I can do with them. Those hose ends are expensive too and make up about half the cost of the fuel line setup.