I had to replace the gas tank on my '81 last year... the design is such
that mud and debris tends to build up on top of the tank, which
eventually rusts through.  Since yours has been cleaned up recently,
hopefully you've avoided that fate.

There're a couple other places I'd look: on the top of the tank are
three or four rubber gaskets, two on each side (I can't remember whether
there are two on the driver side, but definitely two on the pass.
side); they tend to age.  Also the plastic fitting that fits into
them may crack.  Finally, and weirdest of all I think, there is a
tube that goes between the two plastic fittings, across the top
of the tank.  Mine shrank maybe 5 years ago (Kansas, mighty hot
weather...), and pulled one of the plastic fittings out!

I dunno about joints and gaskets (I can only think of one gasket,
on the gas gauge sender), but there's also lots of fuel hose
running around the tank, like 6 to 10 little pieces (sorry I'm too
lazy to count, but I remember it took a while to put the darn
thing back together with all new hoses!).

On Fri, 19 Jun 1998, sh@interlog.com wrote:
> Gas tank on 82 Vanagon was removed, relined and refinished, and
> re-installed about 1 year ago.  Garage also claimed to have replaced all
> joints and gaskets at the time.
>
> Recently, gasoline smell has returned.  Unlike previous time, there are no
> visble drips or wet spots under the vehicle.
>
> Any thoughts?
> -
> Steven Heller
> Toronto, Canada

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Shea                                       shea@xmission.com
Salt Lake City                      http://www.xmission.com/~shea