Thread: Changing the green high pressure fuel hose

Midway through my recent trip to Esperance and Cape Le Grande, poor old Charlie started to have a distinct smell of diesel about him. Poking around underneath revealed a very damp fuel tank and rear underside, with the leak appearing to come from the green HP fuel hose that runs from the pump to the engine, a not an uncommon issue with the Td5 disco. Thankfully on the advice of my mechanic a while back I had a spare in the tool box and with a few hours work was able to do a successful infield replacement of the offending piece of plastic. At this point I must give a big shout out of thanks to David at Wilf Chambers for taking the time to give me some helpful pointers and answer my questions over the phone.

So if your Td5 disco hasn't had this hose replaced in a while, its cheap insurance to buy a spare and throw it in your tool box. Part Number is YNI500030K.

Though i didn't take pictures the following observations may be of assistance to other members undertaking the hose replacement themselves.

• Having the pdf workshop manual on my iPad gave me a good overview of the job and what to remove.
• I had a set of plastic trim tools which made removing the side trim to lift the carpet and get at the top of the fuel pump, a much easier job than levering the plugs with screw drivers. Well worth the 20-30 bucks to buy a set. You only need to remove one side of the boot trim and there is a secret fir tree clip hiding behind the rectangular grill panel next to the rear door.
• Dirt is your enemy and I had lots of it around the fuel pump on the top of the tank and the top front side of the tank where the hoses run. Take your time and clean as much as you can away before pulling hoses off.
• When you remove the old hose from the fuel pump, the green securing clip will come away with the hose. Gently remove it from the hose with a small screw driver and put safely aside to fit to the new hose.
• I found the hose was a tight fit between the fuel tank and body and not easily movable. Slackening off the fuel tank retaining bolts/nuts gave me an extra 5-10mm clearance, which was enough the remove the hose. For safety sake I put the jack under the fuel tank.
• Before removing the hose, I tied a length of clothesline to the fuel pump end of the hose and then pulled it out from underneath the car. I then tied the clothesline to the new hose and while feeding it through from underneath, I had a helper gently pull on the clothesline to guide it through in the correct position.
• Before fitting the new hose I fitted the protective plastic sleeve supplied with it to cover the position where the old hose had worn through. Interestingly the new sleeve is much thicker than the old one.
• I also covered the hose end with gladwrap and tape to stop any dirt getting in when it was being pushed/pulled through to the fuel pump.
• Once the hose was pulled through, I fitted the green securing clip and clipped the hose into the fuel pump and then the other end to the engine fuel line. Finally tightened the fuel tank nuts and bolts back up.
• I only needed a abbreviated air purge. Turned the ignition to start, a couple of times, for approximately 30 seconds until the pump stopped running and then started the car, with my the foot flat to the floor. After a couple of seconds spluttering it ran smoothly and held a steady idle.
• Completed a successful test run and reinstalled the trim followed by a celebratory wine.

Cheers

Steve

For emergency option: A year and a bit ago I replaced mine with some universal EFI rubber hose and it's held up since. It was at night on weekend when I couldn't get the proper part but had the rubber hose at hand.