Hi there,

I just fitted a new fuel tank in my cinq sporting cause the old one was leaking. Everything went more or less fine (apart from two broken bolts, seems to be common, and a long ordeal with Fiat getting the right tank).

Now what I am concerned with is the return pipe fitting. It went in fine, screwed in, but it seems to be a bit loose. After fitting everything in it does not move even one bit, but I wonder if it's going to be tight/sealed enough?
I want to get some opinion before I fill it in to the top, now I still have the chance to unscrew the tank, lower it and try to fix it.

And BTW, on the bottom of the old tank I found two pieces of pipes lying loose. One very thin, one quite wide, carbed. The thin one is too thin to fit anything. The wide one is about the same diameter as the return pipe thingy, but does not fit there in any way. I could not locate any of these two on the pictures in my manual.

Cheers,

Woj

Edit: everything works fine, just the sealing of the return pipe bothers me.

Not changed the tank myself but removed it and refitted it, erm by the return to you mean the two pipes which are connected by a white plastic bracket?

Liam

No, I mean the single blue fuel line mounted to the smaller hole (approx 2inches in diameter) on the side of the tank (on the top). The one that is not visible when the tank is mounted. Or is not the return pipe? Anyway, this is the pipe I have the problem with.

/Woj

Ah right, know the one your on about now, should have known earlier since its blue pipe all the way to the engine bay (dumbass LOL).

Jog my memory, how is the blue pipe attached to the tank again please?

Liam

Cheers Liam,

Lesson no. 2

At the end of the blue line there is a small cylinder (2 inch diameter or so) that crews into the tank, the same way the fuel gauge screws into the pump thingy (at least in my cinq, cause the whole pump mounting seems to depend on the year of make). Now, on top of this small cylinder there is a rubber seal/gasket to tighten everything nicely. The problem is that it is not as tight as I would imagine it should (meanining the whole device can be unscrewed with a minimal force, small finger say). When the tank is mounted the blue fuel line (by its stiffness) holds the thing into place, so no problem for the thing to fall out. But the tightness? My guess it should be FT to seal the tank properly.

Anyways I ordered a new seal from Fiat, should have them (3 pieces, they are extremely cheap here in Poland where I am right now) by tomorrow, not sure if I will be able to pick them up immediately though, cause I am far away. Will see if that helps.

BTW, is everybody else on vacation?

/Woj

Ah get you now, this is a fuel tank evaporation valve, I disconnected this to drop the tank as everyone would need too, I found on refitting the seal makes it screw quite tight, so tight that I use the blue pipe as leverage and the little pipe snapped off the valve meaning I had to get a new one.

Sorry to say that when I replaced it the seal is what to me provides the tightness so you may have a problem with the seal, I don't think it goes a certain way, I'm sure there is the same groove on each side of the tank, I believe that when pressure in the tank reaches a certain point the spring lets out vapour to the little hole beside the filler cap, the return pipe I assume is the one of the pipes on the bracket that bolts in.

Erm too bad that access is very limited when doing this part of the job.

Liam

Thanks Liam,

Now I know I need to peek inside there again. Means dropping the tank again, hurray! But I have my little brother to help me who is not put off easily

And, from the looks of it, the seal is not symmetric, as you suggest -
it cannot be put in upside down (or maybe thats what I actually did, at that's why it does not seal properly).

As an amusment: it took Fiat three takes to get me the right tank, something with car serial numbers being different in Poland (where I am at the moment) and in Germany where my car was initially sold.

Cheers,

Woj

And BTW, indeed true, the device seems to be a bit too complex to be a returm pipe, evaporation valve sounds more like it /Woj

All fixed now, new seal in place. The new seal is symetric, which means the old one was really fubared. The seal is still not as tight as I would imagine, but at least it clicked-in firmly. Hope won't blow myself up

Cheers,

Woj