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Subject:Re: Small gas leak
From:Mike South
Date:Wed, 9 Jun 2010 22:20:31 -0500

I'm not sure what your level of comfort is with being under your car, but as
you can see you're definitely headed for a possible "I need to drop the
tank" scenario.

I was pretty freaked out at the idea of removing and replacing the gas tank,
but I was under my donor van trying to extract some hydraulic lines on
Saturday, and I think I've decided that taking the tank down is going to be
a lot less work than figuring out how to get the hydraulic clutch line out
without taking the tank down.

Also, although I don't think it will matter because my donor van is probably
not ever going back on the road, while I was thus engaged I noted that the
fuel lines appeared to have been "done" already--meaning someone had
replaced them...but when I reached up there to try to figure out what the
clutch line was hanging on, I felt what I thought was an old, broken up,
dryrotted piece of hose, which I only found by reaching up into the saddle.
 I would therefore echo others who are highly recommending taking the tank
down to anyone who is considering doing this for the first time.

Here is a write up on just taking the tank off:

http://www.vanagain.com/gastank1.htm

Although I haven't done it, this guy claims that it's only a 2.5 on a scale
of 1 to 10 (10 being an engine swap/rebuild).  He has a whole reconditioning
procedure:

http://www.kayakwesty.com/gastank.html

mike

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Annie <lsandrsn@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey group,
>
> Recently, whenever I fill the gas tank all the way, it leaks. It's leaking
> enough I can't get a handle on exactly where it's coming from but it seems
> to drip from just underneath the center area of the van - just forward and
> slightly to the passenger side of center, actually.
>
> This ONLY happens when I put more than 10-11 gallons in when the needle is
> *just* to the red. If I only put in 8-9 gallons or less, no problems.
>
> Does anyone have any idea WHERE the leak might be happening?? I just can't
> tell. Where's a common area that might leak with this scenario? We did
> replace fuel lines a couple months ago and the ones I can see look good. I
> don't see any cracks or anything. I'm thinking it must be somewhere between
> the filler neck and the tank . . . ?
>
>
>
> Be blessed,
> ~Annie
>