Plastic Classic Forum

Hey Tim,

I noticed you used wire reinforced hose in your raw water system. Does the system require this or is that just what you had on hand?

I am putting in the same line for my A4 tomorrow or the next day but with the A4 pumping only a couple of gallons a minute I thought I would be okay with standard coolant hose. Thoughts?

-Britton

The A4 does pull much less water than modern diesels--probably 1/3 the amount. New diesels pull substantial amounts of water through.

You'll likely be OK with ordinary radiator hose, but the hardwall water hose (wire or fabric-reinforced) is a safe choice for any engine to prevent the possibility of collapse under suction.

Hardwall hose is probably overkill, as even a diesel's larger water intake probably wouldn't collapse any good hose, but it's still the best choice, in my opinion.

The number and severity of the bends in your hose is the main reason behind a choice between wire and fabric hose. Wire-reinforced hose can take sharper bends without kinking. I reach for wire hose for all engine-related applications.