I need to replace the fuel line on my 280SEL 4.5 from the tank to the engine. Question, what size is that line and how much should I have. I checked Fastlane and they have several differant sizes.

thank for you help.

__________________
Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)

One more try....can anyone help me with this.

thanks

__________________
Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)

I'd cut a 1" section of line and go to a hydraulic shop. A good shop will have all diameters of hose available. Check your yellow pages. Get new clamps as well. Get a little too much and cut the line to fit.

Are your replacing the soft rubber fuel hose or the steel lines? If rubber, then you should anticipate there may be more than one diameter hose. I would get a cheap caliper that measure inches and mm, and then measure the OD of each steel line where the rubber hoses attach. Don't be surprised if you find hoses with one diameter and a differtent diameter at the other end. My 72 350SL 4.5 and 69 230/8 both have these odd balls.

Replacements hoses are available in mm diameters, but US inch sizes can be made to work if close. Many, if not all the lines will have a raised swaged ring that acts as a stop for push-on. Just measure the diameter where the hose fits over the end. Replace all the lines, don't miss any because that will likely be the one that leaks. The new hose should slip over snugly, not loose. Use new clamps and don't over-tighten. You should not clamp down so hard the new hose is cut by the clamp.

Your 4.5 also has small hoses at each injector. These can be replaced, there is a kit, but it is not as simple as popping off one of the main lines. Check under the car, the steel lines are in pieces and connected by small sections of rubber hose. Get them all and remember, when you are at the gas tank, it will leak all over you when you remove the line to the pump. Do the job when the tank is almost empty and jack up the front to tilt the fuel away from the outlet line.

Good luck,

230/8

I replaced the rubber lines from the tank-pump and pump-filter.
For the tank to pump you need 1/2" line (don't know the metric size). I used 3/8" because it was the biggest fuel hose I could find around.
The pump-filter is 3/8"
I needed about 3' of 3/8" line by the time I was done, including waste and extra for any screw-ups.

Paul X.

__________________
Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

If you're talking about the metal line, it seems to be 1/4". I'm going to use 1/4" when I replace mine because it's readily available at hardware stores, fairly flexible (copper line) that can be routed properly without issues, and quite durable. If you mean the rubber lines, most are 5/16" ID, I believe, including all the injector lines.

And the injector rebuild kits are a ripoff. Tear the old line off, buy injector hose with the proper ID (5/16" I believe) and cut to the same length as the old one. Cut 8 of them, then put them on. You'll need 8 more clamps (to clamp them to the bottoms of the injectors) but 8 clamps AND the hose is still less than 1/2 the price of ONE hose rebuild kit, of which you'd need 4.

__________________
Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Thanks all. I am just replacing the rubber hose. It seems that over the course of a couple of months, about 1/2 tank of fuel slowly leaked out. This may also expain the icredibly poor fuel economy the has been getting worse.

So I will pick up some 3/8" fuel injection hose, a few hose clamps, and get to work.

__________________
Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)

Quick update on the fuel line. Went and got 3' of 3/8 HP fuel line and then crawled under the car to find that the line from the tank to the fuel pump had a leak right at the fuel pump nipple. It seems that one of the fuel pump/filter mounting nuts was loose allowing the whole assemble to rock around. I think this contributed to the leak at this location.

Pulled the old line of only to find 2 things:
1) The tank was boon dry (might explain why the care wouldn't start)
2) No way was a 3/8" line going to fit. 7/16th or 11 mm seems to be the correct size. Naturally, no one has fuel line larger then 3/8 so I am off to order some.

I will keep you posted.

__________________
Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)

Litton - FYI -- Coming from the fuel tank to the fuel line there was a nonstandard 2" section of hose on my 108 which went from 10mm to 8mm. Got mine from an internet parts house for $4 or so.

How odd, on mine it is 11 mm or so at both the tank and the pump. Hose is about 12 -14 inches fabric covered that looks like it was on the car for 30 years. Both the tank and the fuel pump look to be 11 mm. The pump has a bump on the tube but the tank is just a straight piece of tubing. I am sort of guessing at the 11 mm as the 3/8 is between 9mm and 10mm and is way to small but going from .375" to .433" should do the trick.

__________________
Litton
'90 420 SEL (sold)
'72 280 SEL 4.5
'98 ML320 (for sale)
'86 560SL
'05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd (offroad in style)
'87 Chevy Blazer (AZ Pin Strips)

Do you have a carburated version of the W108?

__________________
1970 280S M130 engine- good runner
1971 250 M130 engine- #2 rod bearing, gone
1971 280SE (blown engine,parts car)
1977 German 280S W116-only 33 years old

Yup, dual zeniths.