My 83 300D needs to have the metal fuel lines replaced. The ones that go from the engine to the rear door, the two long ones. One parts store told me I needed to get someone to make them and the dealer told me around $400 for the two lines. Anybody have this same problem? Any ideas or solutions? Anybody have any laying around that are in good shape???

__________________
1983 300D 292,000 miles
2002 VW Jetta TDI 153,000 miles

Got Diesel?????

You ming be able to cut out the section that is leaking at put a normal rubber hose on with clamps. This will work if you don't have big chunks you'd have to cut out. Your best bet if you need to replace the whole thing would be to find a local junkyard, and pull them.

__________________

I had a client that had that problem. You can get aluminum or stainless steel tubing and run it in the place of the old metal fuel tubing. I was shocked at how flexible the stainless steel tubing was, and it was just as easy to work with as the aluminum was. It’s also very affordable. It cost me about $70 for stainless steel tubing and $15 for the small pipe cutter from Autozone.

It comes in a coil, so you will need to take the old metal tubing off your car and shape the stainless steel tubing like the new one. Then simple place it on the car and cut. You want to get the thin wall stainless steel tubing because it’s not going to be moving around, and you want high flow fuel flow. And make sure the outside diameter of the stainless steel tubing will work with the inside diameter of your fuel hose. I wish I remembered the part number but give them a call and tell them what you are doing.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#
call (330) 342-6100.

Let me know if you need any help or if I’m not giving you enough detail.
Michael

__________________
Professional greasecar installer
Austin TX


98 Jetta TDI with grease car kit + veg-therm (totaled)
87 MB 300SDL running on B99 / greasecar kit + 30 fphe
www.austingreaseguys.com

Hey John, send me a pm. I have the best and cheapest and easiest to install solution for you.

__________________
85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Just buy the tubing you need
and bend it up yourself

small pipe cutter $7
brake/fuel line bender $20
tubing unions if needed couple bucks a piece
tubing flaring tool $20

you could get this done in a day no problem
do you really want to get junkyard lines
they are just as old as the ones you are replacing

There's a good thread here:-

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=253687

Although it mentions brake lines - fuel lines are also talked about.

A summary is that for fuel lines the easiest way is to run a replacement plastic line along side the existing lines - tie it as you go!

I've recently replaced all of the hard lines (brake and fuel) on my W123 and I bought almost all of them from the dealer. The return fuel line cost me about 70 euros and the long brake line was about 50-60 euros or so. The dealer hard lines do not come pre-bent so if you can find another way of doing it cheaper then there is little advantage using "the real thing". For the pressure fuel line I ended up getting copper as aluminium or steel was unobtainable over here. The downside to copper is that if you use or plan to use WVO or Bio diesel I understand a horrible chemical reaction occurs...

To replace the hard lines I think the easiest way is to remove the sub frame on a W123.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I replaced mine with 5/16" hand-benadable aluminum aircraft tubing from mcmaster-carr. The same stuff is available at summit racing.

I have done this - this is the way to go. Dont rubber hose patch it.

You will need to drop the down a bit at the differential (4 bolts) to gain better access. I can give you a step by step if that would help.

Its really much scarier sounding than it actually is.

__________________
-------------------------------
'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

I used 5/16 brake line with good results.