Just before threading it on to the fittings for a trial fit, almost as a casual afterthought, I lifted it up and stretched it out straight to look through it. I could barely see a bit of light coming through it. Hmmmm... seems to me there should be more light coming through. Maybe I don't have it straight enough. So I try it again. Same thing. I wasn't sure if this was really unusual or not, having never done it before. I shrugged and reached in again behind the engine to install it. It had to be okay, it's still brand new. Then, I stopped and thought, maybe it wouldn't hurt to run a long pin or something down through it, just to make sure.
So I grabbed one of my cowl hinge pins and ran it through the hose. WHOA!!! It hit something inside, then punched through it, and all this hardened dirty crap came out!
Here's a picture of my nice new hose, and the mess that came out of it:
Here's a closeup of the debris:
WHOA again!!
After poking the pin through and getting all of this out, I held it up again and looked through it. Wow! What a difference! I could clearly see right through it. To make sure it was truly clean, I dropped a string through and pulled a fuel-soaked small rag through it a couple of times to make sure I got it all out.
In retrospect, here are some thoughts, and some lessons learned.
Obviously, during all that time it sat on my shelf, some bug or insect had crawled in there and made this mess.I would have never guessed because my shop was always clean and immaculate. I never saw bugs or insects in there. But you know what? That doesn't matter. It happened anyway. It may have even come to me that way. Who knows. I never looked through it before.
This really shook me up, the more I thought about it. This is all downstream of the fuel filter! Had I not looked, I can only imagine how this dirty mess would have gone through the hose into my fuel pump, and then the red cube fuel transducer, then right into my fuel injection system. I can see how easily it could have messed up any of those components, or clogged a fuel injection nozzle. Or maybe all of them. Maybe even at a bad time, like right after lifting off the runway.
I shudder to think of how close I came to installing this hose, without looking through it first. It was almost like an afterthought or a casual thing, that I just happened to take a look. I could have so easily not done it. After all, I bought it brand new and it still looks like it did the day I brought it home. DON'T be fooled by the shiny new-looking external appearance of parts like this! Danger may lurk inside.
What's really crazy is that every tube sticking out of my airplane, such as fuel lines, vent lines, brake lines, oil cooler fittings, you name it. They're all covered up and/or plugged. It just never occurred to me to think about those things sitting on the shelf! Hoses like this, brake line tubing, everything needs to be plugged, and definitely inspected and maybe flushed out before installing it.
So I wanted to share my experience, with the hope that it may help someone else. Check those fuel hoses before installing them! I don't care if they're right out of the box.
CJ
