Startlite hose super smelly?

So I'm kinda regretting going with the Startlite hose now for my Fore fuel system build. It was super easy to install and I get why people like it for that reason. It's very flexible and the fittings are awesome. However, I didn't think it was going to smell this bad right away.

I though I had a fuel leak, but a sniff test of a long section of hose no where near a fitting confirms its reeking of gasoline right through the hose. I was told it might smell, but the way the idea was pitched to me made it sound like a problem a few years down the line as it degraded. That sounded reasonable because I know it's a wear item since it's not permanent like PTFE and I figured the ease of install would make up for having to replace it every 3-4 years. Since I'm making a track car it's always on the lift anyway. Now I kinda wanna re-do it :-/.

A buddy of mine found this out the hard way. He had a system installed with the same line when he woke up the next morning his whole house smelled like a gas station. The car was parked in the garage. Now he’s replacing everything with the permanent lines..

I am amazed that people will buy this type of line knowing that they have to replace it in a few years. I do like the look of the black lines but having to rerun all the lines is insane.

Earls makes a black PTFE line.

https://www.holley.com/brands/earls/products/plumbing_an_fittings_and_hose/ultrapro/

z06psi said:

Earls makes a black PTFE line.

https://www.holley.com/brands/earls/products/plumbing_an_fittings_and_hose/ultrapro/

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Will check it out, thanks man! I'm gonna wind up re-doing the hose when I do a bunch of rear end work, the question is when. Lots of different parts of the build going on at the same time. So I need to figure out how bad this smell is gonna be and if I need to reprioritize.

kcc0521 said:

I am amazed that people will buy this type of line knowing that they have to replace it in a few years. I do like the look of the black lines but having to rerun all the lines is insane.

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So it was pitched to me by hypermotive as being easy to install and it really is super easy to install. Which means yes replacements every few years, but I have a lift at home and it's a track car so really the install part doesn't bother me. I could re-do the lines in startlite hose in under an hour and that's with a beer and watching TV in the background. I could teach a millennial teenager to do it successfully.

Furthermore the fittings are re-usable and it makes the whole thing really easy to service. This is great for my track build because there is always something being done to the car every week, it's a huge project. So ease of service can be important if I have to re-run things or unhook things. Pile of stuff that landed over the last week or so:



If the hose didn't smell this hose would be terrific, if it didn't need replacing it would be absolutely phenomenal. As of now the smell isn't acceptable :-(. Hypermotive did tell me it could smell, but it really sounded like a down the road problem with age, but maybe I misunderstood what they were saying.

Dominant1 said:

A buddy of mine found this out the hard way. He had a system installed with the same line when he woke up the next morning his whole house smelled like a gas station. The car was parked in the garage. Now he’s replacing everything with the permanent lines..

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Luckily my garage is detached and pretty large so it's not making me nauseated, but it's not acceptable. I did notice once the pressure in the lines goes down and the car sits the smell does tend to dissipate. As this isn't a daily I will see how it does between drives. I drive it every few weeks and if after 24-48 hours it doesn't smell anymore I may be able to live with it temporarily instead of reprioritizing other parts of the build to address the lines immediately. Then once I'm done with the rest of the build I could do a permanent run of PTFE.

Redhorse E85 hose for the WIN!

Cheap as heck, no smell.

ProChargerTECH said:

Redhorse E85 hose for the WIN!

Cheap as heck, no smell.

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You have a link to the product? Is it PTFE?

ProChargerTECH said:

Redhorse E85 hose for the WIN!

Cheap as heck, no smell.

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I imagine it's fine for regular unleaded race gas too right?

Looks like the red horse stuff is steel braided and then covered with black. Probably the same with Earls.


Yes unleaded is fine.

kcc0521 said:

You have a link to the product? Is it PTFE?

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Good God.

https://www.redhorseperformance.com/collections/08-235-series-premium-e85-black-nylon-hose

Why would you pay 10 bucks per foot for line that is not ptfe

oesman said:

I imagine it's fine for regular unleaded race gas too right?

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Yes!

z06psi said:

Looks like the red horse stuff is steel braided and then covered with black. Probably the same with Earls.


Yes unleaded is fine.

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Its not braided.

Comes in blue and black.

I have been using it for a while on a LOT of high end builds.
When you have a $200,000 car sitting in the garage of a $2,000,000 house.
The last thing you want is the garage to smell like gas.

ProChargerTECH said:

Its not braided.

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great looking outer braid, a stainless steel under-braid

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:shrug:

z06psi said:

:shrug:

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I don't use the braided hose, for fuel, vacuum, coolant.
(brake lines are a different story)
My youtube channel has videos of the line I use. ([ame="[MEDIA=youtube]t-k73TDZMds[/MEDIA]"]HERE[/ame])



I work on cars, not aircraft.
If I had a dollar for each person that I come across with improperly installed, routed, or damaged "metal" braided line... I could buy a steak dinner tonight.

Metal was cool when that was the only option.
But technology has advanced greatly and allowed for better options IMHO.


NOTE: I am talking about metal braiding. I don't mind the cloth stuff.

ProChargerTECH said:

I work on cars, not aircraft.

If I had a dollar for each person that I come across with improperly installed, routed, or damaged "metal" braided line... I could buy a steak dinner tonight.

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This was a big part of why I followed the sellers suggestion of using Startlite hose. I was looking at that braided stuff and thinking screw that noise. I'd rather replace it every 3 years in 45 min on a lift. Until the smellz...

This Earls nylon stuff is similarly flexible? Is it normally crimped and if so any tool recommendations to make the job easy? I'll have to mate it back up to my Fore system so it's just -8 AN fittings, I imagine I'll have no trouble finding fittings to mate up for the Earls stuff.

Lol nm saw the video, it didn't load the first time for some reason. Looks like it's not too bad. What's that $200 tool the hose was boiled to avoid lol?