Modern fuels and Cohline fuel hose.

As with most things made in Germany they are made to a standard, a set of guidelines, rules and tolerances that manufacturers must adhere for quality assurance, environmental protection and safety, fuel hose is no different.

The German system for this is called DIN meaning Deutsches Institut für Normung and translates into English as German Institute for Standardization.

All fuel hose sold by CohPro is sourced from Cohline directly and is mostly all made to a DIN standard.

The DIN standard relating to automotive fuel hose is 73379 and has been updated and amended as the years have gone by.

The old DIN standards that a hose is made to may not be relevent to recent changes to automotive fuel composition for your particular application.

The problem that we all face at the moment is the fact that for environmental reasons the composition of the automotive fuels we use in our vehicles in daily use as well as our projects, hobby or Sunday cars etc has changed and that the fuel system components that were designed for use on fuel contemporary to the vehicles manufacture are no longer suitable for use with modern fuel.

You will see acronyms banded around, E5, E10, E85, E100 etc and this relates to the amount of Ethanol content in modern petrol (gasoline) E5 being fuel with a 5% Ethanol content, E10 having 10% Ethanol content and so on.

Below is a table of hose types supplied by Cohline that are advertised as suitable for fuel, please remember that fuel is a broad term and may not necessarily mean automotive fuel, it may mean for example heating oil for domestic use, Cohline supply a lot of hose to different end users for a lot of different applications, please don’t fall into the trap of presuming that fuel hose means automotive fuel hose.

 Cohline Type DIN Standard Date Construction Notes
 2110 73379 8/52 NBR / PVC  
 2120 73379 8/52 NBR / Zinc Plated Steel Braiding  
 2122 73379 3/82 NBR / CO (Yard Braiding)  
 2122.13 73379 3/82 NBR / Yard Braiding / Zinc Plated Steel Braiding  
 2134 73379-2A 11/97 NBR / Polyester / CR Suitable for E10
 2135     HNBR / AR / CM Not suitable for Petrol. 0-100% PME, RME
 2190     NBR / CO / NBR In-tank fuel hose, to be submerged.
 2240 73379-3A  11/97 FPM / ECO / AR / ECO Suitable for E100, RME 100
 2240.01 73379-3A  11/97 FPM / ECO / AR / ECO / Stainless Steel Braiding Suitable for E100, RME 100

What we are finding is that customers restoring older vehicles are buying fuel hose on appearance rather than it’s suitability for use with modern fuel, obviously we think that this is a dangerous practice and is to be avoided for safety reasons.

In our opinion an old Porsche with modern fuel hose being used on the road is much preferable to an old Porsche burnt out at the side of the road due to an engine room fire because the owner was too concerned with form over function.

Why do you still sell these other types of fuel hose if they are no longer suitable?

We sell hose worldwide, what is happening in your country or ours may be different to what’s happening elsewhere, there is a still a need for old spec fuel hose and hose listed for use with fuel can be also used in other applications, it is not always used for automotive fuel.

What about Diesel?

Diesel, just the same as petrol is also changing and over time is having more RME added, RME being Rapseeed Methyl Ester or in laymans terms, Biodiesel.

Biodiesel has the same effect on old spec fuel hose as Ethanol does, it accelerates deterioration.

What’s the answer?

In simple terms use a fuel hose that’s suitable for use with modern fuel, luckily Cohline produce such a hose and is fitted at the factory for many current production vehicles.

The 2240 range of hose as listed in the table above doesn’t use Nitrile Rubber (NBR) liner as it’s predecessors, it uses a FPM (or FKM in some circles) liner which is basically Viton.

2240 hose is suitable for both petrol and Diesel and is happy with petrol / Ethanol mixes up to 100% ethanol and for Diesel it will cope with Diesel / RME mixes again up to 100%.

2240 hose is pretty much fit and forget and futureproof.

What about Polyamide?

Polyamide tube is a versatile product, as well as pressure and vacuum lines it is pretty much suitable for any fuel and will last years, it is made to DIN 73378 and 73424.

Polyamide tube is pretty easy to work with and makes a great replacement for corroded metal fuel lines and available in the same or very simiar sizes to the steel it is replacing so it will clip in to the same clips on the chassis etc.

A very cost effective way of running long lengths of fuel hose so great for front to rear fuel feed and return pipes between the engine and fuel tank.

Link to Cohline 2240 fuel hose.

Link to Cohline Polyamide Tube.

Cohline 2240 fuel hose is also available in 5.5mm ID and 7.3mm ID with a Stainless Steel overbraid.

Application and temp range for 2240

Petrol
Methanol 0-100%
Ethanol 0-100%
Butanol 0-100%

Diesel
Rapeseed Methy Ester 0-100%
Hydro Tested Veg Oil 0-100%
Fatty Acid Methyl Ester 0-100%
Soya Methy Ester 0-100%

Temperature Range
Working Temperature – 40°C – 125°C
Short term up to 150°C

Additional Standards
VW TL 524 24
SAE J30R9
GME 08 007
DBL 6256.70
BMW GS 93010

DN (NW) d ± 0,3 MM D ± 0,6 MM WORKING PRESSURE BAR TESTING PRESSURE BAR BURSTING PRESSURE BAR SMALLEST BENDING RADIUS MM PART NO
2 3,2 9,0 10 20 50 30 2240.0209
4 5,5 11,5 10 20 50 55 2240.0400
6 7,3 13,5 10 20 50 60 2240.0600
8 9,3 15,3 10 20 50 70 2240.0800
10 11,5 18,5 10 20 70 80 2240.1019
13 14,0 22,0 10 20 50 100 2240.1322