| brownbetty |
Sat May 28, 2005 6:16 pm |
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Anybody had to do the reseal on their tank? Ive seen the kit at GoWesty but am not sure if it is too big a job and/or something to leave to the professionals...
I would appreciate some advice and guidance... |
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| Larry Hall |
Sat May 28, 2005 6:47 pm |
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| Do you only smell gas when you fill her up? If so check the rubber lines at the top of the tank. You can take a flashlight and see them on the passenger side of the wheel well. There are 3 small lines (1/4 inch I think ) that dry rot and break at the fittings. When you fill up, gas will run on top of tank. |
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| earthmuffin |
Sat May 28, 2005 6:48 pm |
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| It might just be the vent tubes and grommets on top of your tank. Check them out first. |
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| Tram |
Sat May 28, 2005 7:08 pm |
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earthmuffin wrote: It might just be the vent tubes and grommets on top of your tank. Check them out first.
Just what I was going to say! On every Vanagon, the grommets/ hoses are either bad or recently replaced. :wink: |
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| tjallen |
Tue May 31, 2005 12:25 pm |
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I recently did this last week and didn't find it to be terribly difficult, just tedious. The most difficult part is removing the old and refitting the new plastic vent line that runs horizontally from the gas tank and over the coolant hoses. It's just not easy to find a way to get your hands where they need to be. Bentley isn't entirely helpful, but it does provide some good diagrams. Here's what I did:
.5) Undue ground from battery.
1) Drain tank. I ran it down low, then undid the hose that runs to the fuel pump and let the last few gallons flow into a gas can. Do same with return line on driver's side.
2) Remove filler neck. Mine was attached differently than what Bentley showed. Three screws attached it at the point where you put the nozzle in, rather than the hose clamp inside the wheel well. Once you get that detached, you just have to work it out of the gasket at the tank.
3) Remove vent lines from the two tanks above the wheel wells. And make a note as to which hose attaches to which nipple, though I'm not sure if that matters.
4) Remove the bigger plastic vent line that runs over the coolant hoses. This is a bitch to get your hands through the wheel wells to the top of the tank where the ends are plugged into the gaskets. Once you can get there, its a bitch to get the leverage to pull them out, and be careful not to let dirt fall into the hole once it's out.
5) Drop the tank.
(a)I used floor jack to support tank. Then unscrewed and removed the support bars, or whatever they're called. Then I lowered the tank just enough to be able to get my hands above it.
(b) Unplug fuel level sender. Located on driver's side.
(c) Lower tank rest of the way and pull it out.
6) Replace rubber hoses. Mine had 8 short lengths of rubber hoses which connected to the tank, longer plastic lines, and the venting tanks. The plastic hoses seemed perfectly fine so I just repaced all the rubber ones. This is where I found my leak-- a severely cracked small rubber hose that connected one of the plastic lines to the bigger plastic vent tube. Use diagonal cutters (the kind that look like pliers) to cut the factory clamps that are currently on the hoses. This can be tough if the bleep sisn't big enough, or your hands aren't strong enough, and there's not enough leverage to cut the clamps. I followed Go Westy's advice that these lines are not under pressure and just used zip ties to re-clamt the hoses. It is much easier than screwing regular hose clamps on all those connections. Volks Cafe recommends not using any clamps, but hell, I thought I'd be a little careful.
7) Replace the gaskets. Just be careful to not get dirt in your tank.
8) Now the fun part. Put the tank back in. Basically, just do everyhting in reverse. Again, the hardest part is going to be putting the plastic vent tube, and filler neck vet tube back into the gaskets when the tank is back in. Before I replaced the tank, I routed that tube over the coolant hoses and let it balance there. Then I put the tank back in. Then cursed and swore as I tried to plug the tubes back into the gaskets, with my arms fully extended under the wheel wells. Fun stuff.
In all, roughly 3.5 hours.
Good luck. |
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