petrol tank

[burge]

hi folks, just had a look where my petrol tank sits cos i could smell fuel, on top of the tank there looks like to small pipes and looks like i have a leak, is it an easy job tom take tank off or is it a pig of a job i would like this done soon as it seems to be coming out fast many thanks burge

[Drift]

Quite easy, just the nuts on the tank guard can be a bit tight, when lowering it, keep a trolley jack under it with a bit of timber on to take the weight.

[burge]

just tried to undo nuts NO chance am gonna have to take it to a garage as i cant do it

[Drift]

Told you they would be tight

WD40 them and use a breaker bar, they should move, tighten them then try loosening.

[Red Oktober]

just to add ......................

don't put them under too much strain ...they will break suprisingly easy

[burge]

WD them as they was all galled up cleaned up so i could get a grip but now there just spinning around but not as much as me head

[CJ]

I had exactly the same problem - and it was gushing out of mine.

It's 8mm bore petrol hose and it will cost pennies to fix but getting the tank out is not much fun.

Luckily my bolts came out - s-l-o-w-l-y but they did come out.

If they are all spinning then either the captive threads in the chassis are all seperated (unlikely) or they are all broken/loose.

If the latter is true then the tank and carrier should have fallen out by now.

Have you got the right bolts? It's the ones at the sides not front and rear - the ones front and rear hold on the straps which in turn hold the tank down into the metal cage which in turn is held in by 2 bolts either side behind the springs. I had to loosen the exhaust to get at one side by dropping a rubber hanger out of the way but no worries.

Here's my tank out:



This is shot from the rear looking forward.

There is a lip on the left which is the place to look for the 2 left side bolts. And the same setup on the right. You can see a bolt close to you which would be on the rear side of the tank in situ - this is the (broken) strap bolt I talked about - loosening it while the tank is still in the car does ziltch.

One other thing - on my car the 2 right hand side bolts were 17mm and on the left both were 16mm. I loosened the 17mm first and then thought things were odd on the other side til I realised they were smaller for some unknown reason. Worth checking.

[jim in the city]

Try using a 6 sided socket (I think its only 6 like the impact sokets for airtools) as opposed to the sockets that have many sides, and just grap the corners.

I bought a set of deep 6 sided sockets which come in handy.

A breaker bar is very usefull, and isn't expensive.

[CJ]

Spot on Jim - both are invaluable on older cars especially where rust is present - and on a fronty that's a given!