Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:37:20 -0600
Reply-To: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: fuel tank seals
In-Reply-To: <BAY152-ds20F9B164C31FED1A3198AA0EC0@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
My vote goes to the CrossOverPipe being the culprit ~ On both my
Vanagons &
I believe also on my 76Westy the C'O'P' was clamped to the underside
of the body so
that when the tank gets lowered by someone that does not know this it
can either be
pulled out of the tank or one of its plastic ends can get broken. I
actually believe that
just heavy rough road use can cause them to be broken as the C'O'P'
can't move when
the tank gets jostled around. Once I discovered that clamp it got
removed so that the
C'O'P's on any VWVans that I have owned are held in place by their
connection points
& I have never had another broken one. When I bought my '90Westy the
PO warned
me that I'd end up with Gas on the ground if I filled the tank & I
told him that I was
pretty sure that I knew why & would fix it as soon as I got back to
ABQ as I knew that
I had a spare C'O'P' in the back of my '83.5 ~ I headed off to the
GasStation in my
newly acquired 90Westy & thinking more about the 400mi trip home,
proceeded to
"FillErUp" ~ BIG OOPs ~ lots of gas on the ground. When I got home I
dug out my
spare C'O'P', popped the bad (broken plastic end) one out, popped in
the new one &
it's been fine ever since ~ that was 6yrs ago last month.
ORR ~ DeanB
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of
> Troy
> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2012 1:39 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: fuel tank seals
>
> Hi folks:
>
> I think I already know the answer to this, but here goes anyway. I
> had some
> stainless steel coolant pipes installed about a month ago, and the
> shop
> dropped the fuel tank a little bit as instructed by Van Cafe' to allow
> better access for the pipes. Ever since the stainless steel coolant
> pipe
> install, I've been smelling gas. I figure that the seals were probably
> disturbed from the vapor recovery system. The mechanics mentioned he
> saw
> some rotted ends on the fuel lines and trim them and reattached. I
> don't
> know if there's hose barbs or what as I've never seen one close up.
>
> After filling up tonight, I most certain have a leak. I think I got
> a good
> quart of fuel that overflowed on the ground, and dripping off the
> gas tank.
> I wasn't sure if I should even drive the thing at that point, but
> what to
> do. Had a full load of groceries, and needed to get home.
>
> Is there a danger of this catching on fire or am I safe to drive it
> to the
> shop tomorrow? I am kind of inclined to have a tow truck pick it up.
> Bad
> news is there's a full tank of gas there, minus the quart that went
> on the
> ground--talk about gas fumes, whew!
>
> Troy
