Date:         Tue, 13 Aug 1996 21:38:49 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Berry Kercheval <kerch@parc.xerox.com>
Subject:      Vanagon Gas Tank R&R.


So my wife complained of fuel odors and when we filled the tank fuel
spilled from the belly of our '84 wasserboxer. Uh oh. I stuck my head
under and managed to get a glimpse of the fuel pouring down the left
hump of the tank and onto the ground and into the bay. I killed a duck,
I'm sorry :-)

Looking in Bentley, I see that it's probably coming from the fuel guage
sender. I went to the VW place and ordered a new gasket (which turns
out to be a $4.00 O-ring) and new seals for the rest of the tank, since
they say to replace them. Why not, it's such a pain to get the tank out
anyway. DO it all now is my motto.

While I waited for the parts we drove down the level in the tank.
Finally, on Saturday I have parts in hand and attack the problem.

Kids, if you have to pull a tank out of a Vanagon I strongly recommend
getting the bottom steam cleaned first! It's *filthy* down there. I
wore some old T-shirts that I got at a trade show for some fly-by-night
workstation vendor and worn out dockers. They started khaki but are now
grayish-black.

There are eight, count em. eight connections to sever before you can
undo the two bolts and lower the tank-holding-bars. If you haven't
jacked the van high enough (using jackstands, and make sure the thing is
secure before crawling under) then the bars won't lower enough to come
out since the back end is hooked. I attacked mine with pliers. Sigh.
This makes me a DPO. (britcar list sterm for source of all trouble on
your car, the "Dreaded Previous Owner".)

When you get the bars off, the rear of the tank lowers and the front
comes off the lip holding it up, yanking the fuel gauge wires from the
sender. THEN I noticed that the pressure equalization tube fitting was
broken clean off -- no wonder we kept smelling gas.

See, the vanagon fuel tank is sort-of dromedary-shaped, but
right-to-left instead of fore and aft. Through the trough in the center
run the heater and radiator hoses, gearshift shaft, throttle cable, and
assorted other thingies. Now if you fill a tank like this you'll trap
air inside the hump opposite the filler, so there's a tube with plastic
fittings that fit into rubber gormmets grommetts on the top of the tank,
and also go to the expansion tanks. It's complicated, but siffice it to
say one of the plastic Y-fittings was broken off.

So, now the VW parts place is closed so I give up for the day and work
on the TR-6 for a while instead, but that's a story for another list.

Yesterday I special ordered the tube, today it came in and tonight I
wrestled the tank back in. advice for tank isntalling: coat the grommets
with graphite powder and put them in their holes BEFORE installing the
tank! Attach the vent lines from the metal tubes to the expansion tank
BEFORE installing it too. Thread the pressure Equalization tube into
place too.

Then just bolt the tank in. Fasten the fuel pump and return lines to
the back end of the tank. Then crank the wheels full right, go to
the left side, reach in over the frame rail and shove the plastic
fitting into the graphite-laden grommet. If you can arrange to have done
hand-strengthening exercises for the last 6 weeks here, it would help.
Fasten the two tubes to the expansion tank and we're done on the left.
Go to the right, crank the wheels full left, and repeat: reach in over
the frame rail, and shove that sucker in the innermost hole. Now put in
the fuel filler, but be careful! I shoved the seal clear into the tank
and had to fish for half an hour with a piece of wire to get it out. I
suspect it would have been OK though, there seem to be baffles in the
tank that would keep it from covering the outlet. Ease the filler in,
and screw the other end into place, and then shove the vent line (or is
it "vapor recovery line") into the outermost graphite-laden grommet. on
the top of the tank. Fasten the other end to the fuel filler fitment and
.... You're done.

I went and filled the tank, putting in five gallons, peering underneath,
shaking the van back and forth and garnering a number of strange looks.
All was dry, so I filled it the rest of the way up and voila! No leaks,
no drips, no stinky fumes.

What a pain, though. If you do it, try to clean things off first,
and do get all new seals -- and a number of hose clamps. Some of the
connections I had to break had those factory-installed clamps that you
can't get off without side-cutters and can never, ever be reused.

And start squeezing a rubber ball now, for that extra hand strength.

  --berry