Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 21:54:12 -0500
Reply-To: Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject: Re: gas overflow
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Okay, I'm a little slow responding, but this thread is directly relevant to me,
so I had to respond after sifting through the incredible volume of email that
you all generate (at a high Signal-to-Noise Ratio I might add). I've been off
of the list for about a year and my Westy's been running mostly fine during that
time. On October 13th, something changed that caused me to sign back up and
this thread has pretty much hit the nail on the head for me. Let me give you
all some background though.
I bought my '87 Westy about three years ago. All of the time that I've owned
it, I found that if I depended on the auto-shutoff valve on gas pumps, the tank
would overflow, out of the fill pipe. So I got in the habit of listening
carefully and slowing the flow right before the tank filled up. I was pretty
much able to eliminate the backwash, but the inside of my van always smelled
strongly of gas for a day or so after filling up. I was curious as to the
cause, but I didn't worry about it too much. On October 13th, I was filling up
in a particularly noisy gas station. I had slowed the flow down, but didn't
hear anything so I increased the flow. Unfortunately, it was just about full
and overflowed just after I sped up the flow. Anyway, I was standing around
waiting for my girls to "refresh themselves" when I noticed that there was gas
dripping under the driver's side of the van, just behind the front tire. So, I
signed onto the Vanagon list to find out what was wrong. The day I signed on,
the first real email I got was one in this thread. Talk about timing!
So, after reading all the replies and about all the possible things that could
cause this problem, I have a couple of questions: Is there any one of these
particular parts that is more likely to cause the symptoms that I'm seeing? Or
is the bottom line that, if one of them is bad and you have to go to the trouble
of taking the gas tank out, you should go ahead and replace all the parts in
Ken's kit?
Thanks,
Marc Perdue
Aristotle Sagan wrote:
> Well,
> I 'spect it can be done blind, but dropping the tank isn't that hard.
>
> You have a large plastic tube with spiked endpieces that fit into rubber
> grommets on top of the tank. Those grommets can be split, the tube can be
> split, the spiked endpieces can be cracked and broken. The plastic tube goes
> over the center chassis rail on the van while the tank sits below the rail.
> B-yuck.
>
> There are then the small 7mm tubes that go to the expansion tanks. Hard to
> remember how they attach but that part can be broken also. The tubes can
> crack too.
>
> Then there is the vapor line running up to the fill spout. It goes in
> through a metal pipe welded in the top of the tank. That line could have
> split.
>
> And finally, there is the large filler tube that goes outside that you put
> the gas station hose into. It has a large rubber gasket that can be
> leaking.
>
> Lots of points of leakage. The best bet is to replace all the rubber parts
> and the crossover pipe assembly. I think Ken has a kit all made up for this.
>
> tim in san jose
>
> >Hi guys,
> >
> >Searched the archives about a gos overflow problem (spilling across the
> >whole back side of the tank when I filled up tonight) and learned that it
> >is
> >likely that the grommets have to be replaced, and that it a job that needs
> >to be done "blind" if I'm not gonna drop the tank. Can someone tell me
> >what
> >I am looking at (no pun intended)? Do the expansion tank hoses simply
> >insert into the grommets, or over a nipple on the grommets, or what? How
> >many grommets are there that I should replace?
> >
> >I don't have a Bently (asked for one for Christmas), and the repair manual
> >I
> >do have doesn't discuss the tank at all.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >deb
> >'85 Westy "Gypsy"
>
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