Technical Fuel Leak

[sweavo]

Hi all,

The car stinks of petrol when I fill it more than half full, it has made puddles of fuel when parked, and the injector light seems to come on a lot. I'm guessing this is the pump/sender to fuel tank seal, though it could be something else (I've had to tug pretty violently to get the petrol pump nozzle out of the fuel filler a few times in the past and might have damaged something there)

The manual tells me to take out the seats etc. to deal with the fuel pump seal. Anyone done this? Any problems to expect? Or does anyone have another idea of what might be causing the symptoms?

Cheers,

Steve

Cinq 899

 

[ChinqSporting]

Check your fuel tank because if your having a day like mine its morethan likely that

Mark

 

[rallycinq]

As said, check the tank for visible leakage. There is a known tank problem.

Cheers

D

 

[sweavo]

Well, I stuck a load of newspaper down and parked over it. It seems it's coming out from where the filler pipe joins the tank. I'm guessing I split that one time when the filler neck grabbed the pump and I had to yank it to get it out. I think because of the camber of the road where I park, the fuel was running along the bottom of the tank before dripping off, giving a false idea of where the leak was. So that's a job for the new year.

 

[sweavo]

boo! hiss! It is coming out near where the filler joins the tank, but the filler looks good and the tank seam seems rusted to bits, so looks like the tank is the next job.

Since filler removal is not in the Haynes manual, I'll give a few tips:

Fuel Filler pipe: Partial removal and Inspection


Have ready a large hose clip (maybe 44mm?), cable ties, and cling film.

Drain the tank or perform the work when the car is almost out of fuel.

Chock left front wheel and apply handbrake.

Remove right rear wheel, supporting car on an axle stand. This allows you access to the screws you need to remove the liner. Also, by tilting the car to the left, you keep the fuel at the left side of the tank, away from the filler pipe.

Unscrew the 3 philips screws holding the wheel arch liner and exterior trim on, the additional screw at the top of the liner, and remove.

Open the filler cap cover. Undo the two screws and remove the filler cap cover altogether.

Undo the four screws holding the filler cap housing onto the back of the body panel.

Under the car, place a tin to catch any spilt fuel. Loosen the hose clip at the bottom of the filler pipe and carefully remove from the tank. If fuel pours out, push the tube back on and pump out the tank into proper fuel cans.

Once the filler pipe is successfully off, cover the neck of the tank with clingfilm to keep in the petrol vapours. Without that you run the risk of explosions due to passing smokers or inhaling harmful fumes.

The filler pipe, cap, assembly, breather and return pipe can now be moved out through the wheel arch.

Now the missing piece of info: I didn't need to actually remove the part because I just needed to inspect it. So if I'd removed the fuel return pipe, maybe fuel would have pissed everywhere, maybe it wouldn't!

Refitting was easy peasy, I needed a new hose clip at the bottom union because the old one snapped as soon as I tried to undo it, and I would have needed a new one at the return pipe if I'd removed it, since the one on there was not reusable. The only other thing was getting the rusty, fine-pitched screws square in their holes.