Originally Posted by
Idle
Not really rubber — a synthetic, mostly oil based and therefore not fuel and lubricant affected. Eventually killed by exposure to heat, but does last a long time. We've all seen them go hard and crack where they attach to hot metal.
Real rubber (latex from the tree) doesn't want anything to do with liquid petroleum products.
True - Well I guess thats what I meant - synthetic rubber.
There are no places in the breather setup on my mk3 that it gets hot enough to make the hose deteriorate over time...
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that so as not to over-engineer it too much, it should be considered what the actual operating conditions will be. I see it all the time at work - people tell you a pipeline is running at 800*C and they want to put in an expansion joint that will work at 800*C - the thing is, that they only say that because the engineer says that the exhaust gas exiting the turbine is at 800*C. Never mind that this is 50m downstream, in the open air. Even if the gas running through it is at 800, chances are the thin walled joint is losing heat to atmoshpere so fast its actually only at 300 degrees. So, you ask them to measure the actual wall temperature of the pipeline, and sure enough its only 30-40% of the internal gas temperature. If you had quoted based on 800* rated joint, it cost literally 10 times more in materials!
Ok, so thats a very long winded way of trying to say that if you really want to spend up on silicone hose for a breather setup - then ok. But you'll pay for it. And even if the synthetic rubber one only lasts 3-4 years - thats plenty of time given the cost difference.
In my humble opinion....
'07 Touareg V6 TDI with air suspension
'98 Mk3 Cabriolet 2.0 8V
'99 A4 Quattro 1.8T
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