Date: Tue, 17 Oct 95 08:39:49 CDT
From: EAGAN@loyola.edu
              Leaking Vanagon gas tank, fumes, etc. ...

 I have seen quite a few vanagons that suffer from this problem and
 many times the culprit seems to be the plastic crossover pipe
 which connects the two high ridges of the tank. it runs from
 side to side, drivers to passanger. the pipes tend to crack and
 break, and then when you fill the tank all the way up you may get
 a little leak or drip and lots of fumes until the tank level drops.
 many times a leak won't even be noticed.

 if you jack up the front of the vanagon, the wheels will drop
 and you can see the top of the tank. I have been able to replace
 this pipe and all grommets easily, with out removing the tank
 or even the wheels.

 you can check the crossover pipe with a flash light. it should not be cracked
 each end of the pipe goes into the gas tank, through a grommet. plus each
 end of the pipe has a small 5mm piece of fuel line that leads out from
 the tank to the plastic vent tank things that live under each wheel well.

 if the crossover pipe is broken, you can reach in on each side of the
 van and pull the pipe out on each side, disconnect the little 5mm fuel
 hoses on each side from the plastic tanks( careful not to break off the
 little nipples they get brittle with age.) and remove it as a unit.
 then reach in and remove the grommets, they usually pull out easily by hand
 and the new ones go in easy with a little silicone spray and a good
 twist. put the grommets in the tank, not on the new crossover pipe.

 then put new hoses of proper length with clamps on the new
 crossover pipe, slide it back above the gas tank, get everything
 in place, and press the pipe back into the tank on each side.
 reconnect the hoses and then your done.

 i forgot to mention that there is a small bracket above the tank that
 holds the pipe, sometimes the only way to reinstall the pipe is to bend
 it down alittle bit with a long screwdriver and then bend it back later.

 i hope this is understandable.
 patrick,