My petrol problems..caused by lump of ice on petrol hose?!

[*^Nicola^*]

Hi!
As you know I was recently 'complaining' about the amount of petrol my Nova seemed to be drinking.
Tonight I noticed a wet patch on the drive which semlt like petrol. I drove the car about 1/4 mile and stopped, to see if anything was dripping - and it was still a steady drip. I looked under the car and where the petrol tank is and the hose thing there looked to be a tissue!
I thought, hmmm the hose might be split and the previous owner has shoved a tissue in in :oops: so I tried to pull out the 'tissue' to see what was what and it wasn't a tissue but a great big snowball size lump of ice!! :| Where the hell did that come from? It isn't icy here or even that cold :roll:
Anyhow, I drove home and just before I got there some dude behind me beeped and told me I had a big trail of petrol behind me on the road. When I got home the hose has split completely and petrol was literally running out under the car.
I've had the hose replaced and it's no longer dripping :roll: hopefully I will get more miles for my money? If not then there is still something wrong :| and I can't afford to get it tuned for at least a :? month

Where do you think the ice has come from?!

[scott.parker]

Humm my selth i carnt see it ever being ice,but im glad you found the leak,its not good leaking fuel,as i did this in my Xr2i and my pug 205D van,and both times you notice about ?20-?25 less fuel consumption,so good look to finding out what the icve was..

Scott

[*^Nicola^*]

The only thing I can think of is if petrol has a lower freezing temperature than water and as its been dripping onto the hose it has been freezing up, gradually getting bigger. It definatley was ice :lol:

What is petrol made from? Does it have a water content?

[boredbloke]

If you want it tuned find out in your local yellow pages someone that does a crpyton tune, they sorted out my fuel comsumption brilliantly, only cost me about 50 quid, which i saved within 6weeks of driving anyway.

[*^Nicola^*]

I just found this when I googled 'freezing petrol' :

Don't be fooled into thinking that the surrounding air is too warm for freezing to occur, outside temperatures do not have to be down to freezing level for this to happen. The vaporiser may freeze at temperatures up to + 25 degrees Centigrade, especially if the air is very damp.

I am going to get it tuned when I have the cash. There a few mobile autoelectricians in the local paper,says price from ?20.

[Stuart]

i read taht and thought hmm what a pile of poo
then i got out my bosch automotive hand book (bible of my industry)

Vaporisation Heat
The air-eul mixture cools as the fuel vapor evaportates. In cool damp weather (approx 2 - 8 deg C rel humidity >65%) this phenomenon can cause ice to form on the throttle valve (or on your case nicola the fuel line), this is actually the carb icing that most people talk of.

[*^Nicola^*]

Ahh how could you doubt me :)
I've been looking up carb icing and it seems common on motorbikes and old cars (pre fuel injection).
What are the remedies? I have read about something called 'Redex' do you just pour it into the fuel tank? Would this help?
Something about the air filter, I have the 'pancake' one on a 1.0 and it should have an air setting summer winter and itermediate. I'll have a look at that and maybe I should clean it? In my Haynes it says something about a paper filter on my engine?

[Jules]

The only thing I can think of is if petrol has a lower freezing temperature than water and as its been dripping onto the hose it has been freezing up, gradually getting bigger. It definatley was ice :lol:

What is petrol made from? Does it have a water content?

That is exactly what has happened, the same happened on my old VW Beetle years back.

[Stuart]

the only way to remeby carb icing is to have a warm air feed to the carb inlet. this can be done by ducting hot air from round the exahust manifold up to the filter, or air box intake.


and im sorry for doubting you :p lol

[Snowface]

your infinite knowlede wavered a bit there old boy lol. :wink:

Good job you got backup.

[Stuart]

i metntioned this to the guys here who ahve been in the gasoline business for 10+ years and they thought it sounded a bit odd, so i was right to question it, but i didnt flat out refute the idea :p

all hail the bocsh blue book lol