Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 10:24:15 -0500
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Tim Wise <wise@ses.com>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: 86 GL - Gas Tank Problem
At 09:03 AM 10/22/96 -0500, Thomas D. Hanlon wrote:
>Ditto on the grommets, HOWEVER, there is that plastic pipe with two
>fittings on each end which attaches to the hoses connected to the vent
>tanks. There is one vent, or expansion, tank on each side of the vehicle.
>Each iof these tanks is accessible, by hand, from the wheel wells.
I just replaced the "crossover pipe" on my 87 van with help from the archives
for this mailing list. One of the Y plugs into the top of the tank was
cracked. Also all of the hoses connecting the Y plugs to the expansion tanks
were nasty. I drove for months filling to no more than 12 gallons.
Thoughts:
- There are two hoses from each expansion tank. One goes to the Y plugs
and the other goes ...?? don't remember. See the Bentley pictures.
- You don't have to drop the tank to replace the crossover tube and the
hoses from it to the expansion tanks.
- If you need to replace the other hoses from the expansion tank (the
...??? ones), you may need to drop the tank.
- Jack the front of the car up to drop the wheels this allows access
to the Y plug on the passenger side. I couldn't access the Y plug on
the driver's side from the wheelwell.
- I accessed the Y plug on the driver side by removing the spare tire and
crawling up under the front of the car. You can see both Y plugs from
there. You can also see what's leaking if you get up there when filling
the tank.
- Remove the hoses connected to the expansion tanks, then pop out the Y
plugs and thread the crossover tube out. Pay attention to how it threads
over the top of the tank.
- I put the grommets for the Y plugs into the tank before pushing the Y
plugs in, putting a good amount of spit on everything beforehand.
- If you do drop the tank, remove the hoses at the expansion tank first.
Also, crawl up from the spare tire area and unclip the crossover tube.
It's on a hanger, u-shaped clip. You can easily pop it out. This will
allow you to drop the tanks w/o ripping things out.
>If the plastic pipe is broken, you can obtain one from the dealer for about
>$32.00, including the four grommets necessary to install the plastic pipe.
That's what I paid.
>Buy hose clamps of the stainless steel variety to fit the gas llines which
>attach to the plastic pipe. Have a paia of snipper, or curved lip, cutters
>to remove the factory-compressed clamps.
Watch out when removing the factory clamps at the expansion tanks. Don't
twist off the nipple from the tank, like I did.
>The tricky part is to lubricate the grommets with graphite material AFTER
>inserting them onto the "Y" pipe, and THEN find a very strong pair of hands
>to insert, push, force or wrestle the grommeted pipe into the gas tank in
>holes on top of both sides of the tank, the driver's and the passenger's.
I couldn't do this. I put the grommets into the tank first then pushed the Y
plugs into the grommets.