Hi folks,

We took my mrs' clio (2003, 1.2, 30k miles) to hull the other week, foresaking the bmw due to uselessness of RWD in the snow. On the way back the retainer which holds the fuel line to the injector rail pinged off apparently due to the extreme cold, and in the time it took for the fuel in the rail to deplete and for me to think "hmmm, can I smell fuel?" it had sprayed the remaining half a tank of unleaded all over the inside of the engine bay... scary stuff. Luckily no ignition...

So I wired it back on good and tight and my mate has since modified the hose and injector rail so it's held on properly. But I'm thinking there are lots of fuel line connections under there and I don't want Mrs and nipper sitting on the grass verge waiting 3 hours for RAC in the snow while clio burns merrily on the hard shoulder below... or worse. So now i'm wondering how easy would it be to wire a fuel pump switch on the dash.

Any thoughts? Wise/unnecessay? Wire it straight from the fuel pump fuse?

In all the years these sort of fitting have been out, yours is the first one I've heard of coming off.
Unless when the car stalls she immediatly thinks "Oh no, it's the fuel line, I must switch off the pump... now where's that switch..." every time the engine stalls, I wouldn't bother. The pump should stop anyway once the engine stalls. Switching off the ignition will work but she's likely to try starting it back up anyway.
On the bright side... the fire will keep them warm while they wait

adrian

ps. petrol needs a spark or a flame to ignite, which there shouldn't be if everything is in order under the bonnet (provider it doesn't go in the aternator or starter brushes). Even HT leads shouln't provide a sprark if the insulator rubbers or good. Exhaust manifolds will just boil it away.

[Edited on 11/12/10 by adithorp]

It doesn't need a spark or a flame, my old Mini had a leaky fuel hose catch fire when I was a kid and there's no electrics down the back of the motor, just a hot exhaust.

Autoignition temperature of petrol is 246deg C.

A red-hot exhaust is more than 250deg, but I don't know what temperature exhausts on muggle cars run at.

Matt