Melted Fuel Line

[scgargoyle]

 I'm working on a Husky 44 for a friend of mine, and the first thing I noticed was that the fuel line was gone. At first, I just figured that it had fallen off and dropped into the tank. But it melted! There's brown sticky goo in the bottom of the tank, and the filter came out without a line on it. I can only surmise that the line actually melted. The saw is very clean otherwise- doesn't look like it was hardly used. I have a few questions:
1) Did it actually melt? I'm assuming ethanol blend did this.
2) How do I get the goo out of the tank? I haven't found a solvent that touches it.
3) Where do I find a new line? Bailey's doesn't list parts for this saw. I found a complete assembly on ebay, though. Will the new part melt with today's fuel?

It's not a normal looking fuel line- it seems to have a rubber grommet where it goes through the top of the tank. Thanks for any help!

[Rocky_J]

The old style fuel lines won't hold up to ethanol, which is highly corrosive. All new fuel lines sold at the dealer should be alcohol resistant.

If ethanol dissolved the fuel line then you can probably use ethanol (alcohol) to clean the residue out of the tank.

[Al_Smith]

Actually this is not uncommon at all .I've experinced the same problem many times on these old saws I seem to amass .Some so old they had never had ethanol fuel in them ,just gasoline .

The last time was on a Husqvrana 2100 that had dissolved its' fuel line .

Sometimes just some solvent in the tank will rinse out the residue .Other times as with that 2100 the residue will find its' way past a new fuel filter and become lodged in the internal screen of the carb causing untold grief .

You can normally find bulk fuel line at a saw or mower shop and I think it's called Targon or something like that .By using different sizes and stuffing one inside the other the tank gromments can be kind of fabricated so the fuel doesn't leak all over the place .

The one thing you don't want is a leaky saw .Catch one on fire sometime and you'll know exactly what I mean

[sablatnic]

The name of the fuel line is TYGON. I don't think it is the fuel breaking down the old fuel lines. I have seen it happen to lines left on a shelf for some years. (About 25 years).