Went for about a 20 mile ride to get blue berries this afternoon. When I got back into town I parked for a few minutes to go to a store, when I came back there was a small pool of oil under the front of the car. The copper outside oiler line had snapped off at the front fitting. Fortunately the oil level was still above the lower petcock so no apparent harm. Replacing that copper line with a steel one was on my list of things to do, now its at the top of the list.
I know many T's have out side oilers and most of those have copper lines. I think I'm pretty aware of what's happening with my T's, its my opinion that the line went from no apparent leak to broken off in that 20 miles.
If you have an out side oiler with a copper line replace it now rather than later, I was fortunate!!!

I used a steel brake line, found one just about the right length. worked great. Dave

The copper lines will break from wiggling. It is called work hardening.
You can NOT use copper lines for brakes, oil lines or fuel lines. They will eventually snap off near the end.
To keep them and not risk breaking you only have to cut each line a couple inches from the end and slippa piece of fuel or oil line hose in. You need to do it on both ends.
The original fuel lines were steel with a brass coating.
Steel brake lines are fine but they are hard to work with for an outside oil line.

I use gas water heater stainless flex pipe.

Don't use copper for oil lines, it will make your oil black. Use copper plated steel, strong, looks like copper.
Graham

I know that many vintage European cars including Jaguar used copper for brake lines.

I am going to replace mine, and fuel line, with Stratoflex that's used in aircraft. Kind of pricey but the best.i

I was told by an old neighbor that copper brake lines have been illegal since the 1930s. I can't imagine a Jaguar having them. Brass, maybe.

I bought a really old carb off tbay, and it had a short feed pipe attached. It looked like copper, but turned out to be brass.

rdr

They use brake lines of Copper-nickel alloy C70600, an alloy of 90% copper and 10% nickel.

Check to make sure your spark rod doesnt rub or put pressure on the line when its moved. There shouldnt be any flexure in this line to cause any work hardening unless the hogs head is twisting independent of the block which is unlikely.

Vince M

Vince, just the vibration of the engine could do it, although I'm sure it would take quite some time. Just my .02. Dave

David,

Seems like every refrigerator ice maker line would fail if vibration could do it. I could be wrong though. I have never really seen a copper oil line failure so my experience on this specific issue is limited.



Vince M

Ice maker lines failing has not been uncommon. Are they still using copper?

It's amazing to me that this thread has gotten this long and there is no mention of the fittings Don had at the end of his copper oil line where it broke off.

Flare or compression fitting Don?

Just for grins, what OD and wall thickness copper?

Was the copper line anchored in any way to the engine other than at the ends?

How long was this copper line?

May be a stretch, but do you know what kind of copper it was?

I'm sorry that I have so many questions at this point in the thread but I fail to see where copper is bad if some thought goes into using it.

Seth

Some are plastic now (cheaper), but i have never seen a copper one fail in 47 years.

Vince M

I use a piece of clear plastic tubing just clamped on the ends and big enough to go over the fittings. Then you can clearly see the oil flow. Some say they don't work, I've seen the oil flow and they DO work.

This setup hasn't had a copper line break in 104 years and it's got lots of copper.
Mind you, T's do vibrate much more than this 2 cylinder oil throwing machine.

I still have what I believe is, the original copper outside oil line on one engine. The 1/2 copper lines on both my compressors have never failed and they see plenty of vibration. I think this is just another old wives tale that has been around for years.

I've never had an ice maker, but you hear about the lines breaking when they flood the kitchen, and get under hardwood floors.

I've had 1/2" copper compressor lines crack.

I remember an Airworthiness Directive on the Rockwell 112 Commander airplane for the oil pressure gauge copper line cracking and breaking.

rdr

I also section the copper line and use a piece of clear plastic tubing to watch the oil flow. Don't even clamp the tubing to the copper, and it works fine.

The line that failed was copper with a flare fitting at the hogshead and a compression fitting at the timing cover. Obviously the line broke at the compression fitting. The car now has a steel brake line for the oil line with double flares at each end. I couldn't believe how much time it took to bend the line, but at least it looks neat.