Airtex Injector hose failures

[dashpot]

Hello All,

I had a frightening moment with my '77 280Z after replacing old fuel hoses.  I started it up and one of the injectors with the factory crimped hoses tore and started spraying fuel down on my headers.  Luckily there was no fire and I had an extinguisher in hand.  

What has me really disturbed about this is that I purchased these injectors last year and they've only been running on the car for a total of maybe 2 hours at most.  My fuel pressure doesn't exceed 40psi (have a mounted gauge).  I replaced the hose on this injector, which is described in other threads on this topic.  I don't have a concern with replacing the other 5 injector hoses, but I would rather trust that the manufacturer of the injectors knew what they were doing and there's something I should be aware of to prevent risk of a future fire.  

The tear happened just below the hose clamp (flat banded clamp).  The clamp was pretty tight but didn't seem extreme.  When looking at the 5 remaining hoses, they appear to get skinny in the middle like they're under serious vacuum.  The outsides look in perfect shape but I'm a little concerned with the shape is all.  I purchased all injectors at the same time so I can assume I would experience this issue at any point with the others. 

Has anyone else had a similar experience to this?  I would typically replace and test on most things but I don't want to repeat my last experience.

 

Thanks

[NewZed]

What are Airtex injectors?  Or is it Airtex hose?  Not really clear what you're describing besides a hose failure.

[dashpot]

It is the brand of injectors I purchased from RockAuto (AIRTEX/WELLS Part # 4G1017)

They come with a ~2" EFI hose that is crimped to the injector.  I have them clamped to an aftermarket fuel rail.  The hose failed at the clamp connecting it to the fuel rail by forming a tear next to the clamp.  The tear is slightly diagonal from the edge of the clamp.  The fuel rail has slightly bigger barbs than the stock rail but the hose still fits on the aftermarket rail fine and can still be clamped with the same size clamps used on the stock rail. 

I contacted RockAuto to see if they've had folks report similar issues with this injector and am waiting for a response from them.  

[Tony D]

This sounds like a misalignment/over tightening of the clamp precipitating a tear of the outer jacket and ultimately, failure of the hose.

 

This was an issue in Fords in the late 70's when they changed hoses. The clamps Ford used on hose retrofits had no screw serrations, and raduised edges. The hose was available so aftermarket shops were doing the update and burning cars left and right from over tightened Ideal-Brand screw clamps that extruded the hose, or cut it along the band edge from insufficient radius.

 

A clear, in-focus photo of the tear would do wonders.

[dashpot]

Tony I think you're on point.  I unfortunately had already butchered these and rebuilt them before I got any clear pictures (stupid on my part).  I used better clamps than what they had on and am keeping a super close eye on things and so far so good.  

I got a few responses from the mfg that their engineers were looking into it and that they would send me replacements but they eventually went silent on it.  

It doesn't help that this aftermarket rail has slightly larger bars that after reassembly led to tapering my injector hoses again - but not nearly as bad.  That's what I get for snaggin an aluminum fuel rail on ebay on a whim.  Thanks guys!