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.