Hi all, I am hoping that soemone may be able to help me with a problem I have been informed about when I took my little cinq in for an MOT.

After failing the first time due to discoloured bulbs and a bit of welding being required, I took the car to a mechanic unrelated to the test station to get the work done. Whilst he was doing the work he has told me that he has noticed a leak in my petrol tank, and whilst the car has now got through the MOT he has advised me not to fill the car above half way in the tank until I get it fixed.

I have looked at some posts dated 2005 and 2006 on this forum and it looks as though there was a recall due to leaky petrol tanks a number of years ago. Based on my current problem, but not having any history of the car before I cought it, I dont know if this is related.

Anyway, the question I would like to ask is does anyone know where I can get a good price on a new tank? I have looked online and seem to be able to pick a new tank up for about 70 quid.

The second question, as I would qualify my mechanic skills as being novice (The largest job I have ever undertaken is to change the heater matrix in my Cinq) how easy is it to change the tank and would I need any special equipment? Failing that if it is best left to the professionals, then alos adbvise would be useful.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my ramblings.
:worship::worship::worship:

Recall was on sei fuel tanks, not cinq ones - a few cinqs have been done but that was many years ago and when the recall was first out

Its very, no extremely unlikely fiat (understandably) would even play ball on a car of this age - your car is at least 13/14 years old - they dont even play ball with sei owners now let alone cinqs so trying to get a free recall is a waste of time IMO also when it isnt even for the car in question

There are tanks on ebay, or you can get second hand ones, although if you go this route it might be worth filling it with something like water to see if it leaks then obviously draining and drying it out before refitting

I wouldn't bother with a s/h tank when new ones are available for so little.

Reasonably simple job to change, no special tools or kit needed to change it, just normal sockets + jack etc..

Handy to have fuel cans to put the drained Petrol into though.

AppleSei said:

Recall was on sei fuel tanks, not cinq ones - a few cinqs have been done but that was many years ago and when the recall was first out

Its very, no extremely unlikely fiat (understandably) would even play ball on a car of this age - your car is at least 13/14 years old - they dont even play ball with sei owners now let alone cinqs so trying to get a free recall is a waste of time IMO also when it isnt even for the car in question

There are tanks on ebay, or you can get second hand ones, although if you go this route it might be worth filling it with something like water to see if it leaks then obviously draining and drying it out before refitting

Click to expand...

the recall was on all cinqs and early seis iirc.
also it dont matter how old the car or how long ago the recall was. VOSA require fiat to replace any leaky tank on a car which has a recall notice and has not already had a replacement tank.


If you do a search on the vosa website the vin numbers are on there


http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/rec...C3E60780256BB9002688CD&freeText=Blank&tx=VOSA

Try Fiat HQ. If no joy, there's a very good s/h tank in clazssifieds

craigb244 said:

the recall was on all cinqs and early seis iirc.

Click to expand...

Yep, mine would have been covered, but I needed it sorted quickly so I replaced it myself.

i think the biggest problem youll have removing the tank is space.. unless your the size of a 5 year old it could be a bit awkward disconnecting the pipes off the top of the pump through the plate under the rear seats.... remove as much petrol as you can from the tank before removing or itll weigh a ton

Thanks for the excellent info, I will certainly try and get the work done for free from fiat first, and failing that will give it a go myself (fingers crossed I have the ability)...

I will let you all know how I get on....

i would say as soon as you find out if your doing it yourself.. soak the bolts in WD40 everyday for a few days just to make things easier

I had to replace tank last year, to remove the fuel from it I put a live wire from my battery charger to the wire that supplys the fuel pump on top of tank, then at the front pulled off the supply pipe from the SPI unit and connected to a longer pipe which went into petrol container, simply switch on the charger and the pump simply pumped out all the remaining fuel with no spillage

The tank comes off quite easy, I had one bolt snap though but was able to drill the remains out and use a nut and bolt on refitting, be careful with the filler pipe where it goes on the tank as it splits quite easily