Fuel Filter Change Gone Wrong ! Please Help

[emohawk69]

Yesterday I was changing the fuel filter, which looked to be an easy job.

When pulling the fuel hose off, one of the fuel filter metal inlet / outlet pipes broke off, and is now stuck in the rubber fuel hose. MR RAC came out to try and fix and he cannot get the metal part of the fuel filter pipe out of the fuel hose either.

The car is due to be put on the back of a truck and taken to VW this afternoon.

My question: is there something I have missed that has caused the fuel filter metal pipe to become lodged into the rubber fuel hose?

Also, am I going to need an entire new hose if VW cannot get the metal out?

I was totally gutted yesterday and fealt like I had failed a 1 out of 10 difficulty job....

The reason I was doing the work myself is because I cannot easily afford to spend money on garage's doing labour on what should be simple service changes.

 

[davidol]

photos would help mate!

 

[m0rk]

why not just trim back the rubber pipe to where the metal insert ends, then put the new fuel filter there, and extend the rubber pipe with a new piece?

slightly messy, and will require a couple more jubilee clips, but is far cheaper than taking it to the masked bandits

 

[emohawk69]

I will take a picture when I go to get the car moved.

Trimming back the fuel hose is an excellent idea. Unfortunately the end of the fuel hose has a large plastic connector on. Where the fuel hose goes onto the filter, the hose ( at least externally ) is larger in diameter.

It could be extending the fuel hose is the way to go. I agree at their labour rates its crazy money and they are masked bandits...

 

[mattbeef]

trimming it would also more than likely not work.
Dont forget its got a constant 3/4BAR pressure of fuel running through it all the time

 

[emohawk69]

Well its been towed to the VW garage - not looking forward to the quote but I hope its not more than 1 hours work...

 

[emohawk69]

The VW garage fixed the problem in just half an hour....

They are also hoovering and cleaning the car for no charge !

First time I have ever been impressed by a dealer garage.

 

[ElasticTangent]

First time I have ever been impressed by a dealer garage.

Sounds like they are looking for some repeat business

 

[oldman]

with service like that i would visit them.
glad it's sorted. did they talk/explain what had happened? and how fixed?

makes a change to see comments on good service rather than the beatings most dealer receive.

 

[emohawk69]

It was the service woman that dealt with me, and she doesnt know what they did. I was in a rush to collect the car, but went in with a box of Quality street to give to the mechanics as a small thanks.

I noticed they have not clipped part of the fuel line back into its holding clip however - not a biggie really...

They get the thumbs up on this one.