Fuel smell in trunk...

[Hodgepodge]

I pulled all of the spare parts that came with the car out of the trunk and immediately noticed the smell of gasoline was coming from the trunk, not the parts in it.  I pulled the floor up and examined the remarkably pristine tank.  The vapor return system is intact, vapor bottle is empty and the tank and all connections are dry.   So that leaves three things, from what I can tell....   You guys who have been down this road, please add item 4 and up.  

 

First, there is a small piece of rubber hose that runs from the sending unit to the plastic vent pipe.   That hose looks damp on the sending unit side (blow up the image and you can see it).  Since there is no clamp, maybe the PO overfilled the tank and fuel made it's way to the outside of the hose there.   Those hoses, once soaked with gas, deteriorate pretty quickly.  I'm assuming I'll still need that line after I remove all the smog stuff so I'll replace that piece of hose. Funny that ther eis no clamp there, but I did not see one in the schematic or parts list.  

 

Second, the rubber gas filler neck/boot seems very soft to me.  I could not find any cracks in it, but there could be one someplace. 

 

And third, if the sending unit screwed down, I would suspect a bad gasket between the sending unit and the tank.  This is a bayonet style sending unit, right?  Is there a gasket?   

 

I suppose it could be an actual leak in the tank, but it looks really good from all angles, is well secured and is resting nicely on a foam gasket.  I'll be pulling it out, though, to get ready for painting, so I can look more closely then.  

 

Any other ideas?    

 

 

 

[John76]

There are lots of posts addressing the fuel smell in the trunk.

Yes, replace the rubber gasket under the sender (coat with Vasoline first so it expands and makes a tight seal).

Then replace the plastic transition piece that goes on the fuel spout. The sender has a 6mm diameter spigot, and the plastic tube feeding the fuel pump is 8mm. The rubber hose has a 8mm ID.

The plastic sleeve cracks with age, and when you turn the engine off (no more sucking from the fuel pump) gas drains back to the tank and leaks out onto the sender.

[Hodgepodge]

Got it.  I did look at the other threads but most were not applicable.   Ordered the o-ring today.  I'll check all the other parts and replace as needed.  Thanks!  

[Son of Marty]

I think from your picture I can see a little discoloration where the cloth covered hose exits the tank this is the spot John76 is talking about replace the hose and plastic piece under it the hose is probably original to the car and it will have dried out and cracked.

['76mintgrün'02]

... and you can snip off a piece of the plastic line and press it onto the sender.

(no need to buy a special plastic sleeve)

[Mike Self]

+1 on those probably original cloth covered hoses in your picture.  They develop cracks with age and you can't see 'em because of the cloth cover.  Pitch those hoses in favor of nice new rubber ones.  And don't forget the plastic sleeve mentioned in a previous post.  

 

And BTW the fuel line that leads from the sender unit is actually the pickup line that leads to the fuel pump.  The other one is the return/vapor drain line.

 

mike

[John_in_VA]

If you prefer to retain the original cloth-covered hoses, check out Belmetric.com.  They have lots of metric hardware as well.

https://www.belmetric.com/braided-metric-hose-oem-c-14_138/?zenid=nistcbek8qk28v4bq6l02d39h0

[tomphot]

nt

Edited October 16, 2017 by tomphot