Petrol Leak

[J8TRO]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

taken the car to the local garage this morning to get a few final niggles looked at with a view to getting it MOT'd in the week. Put £30 worth of petrol in from empty on the way to the garage. pulled up out side and 5 mins later there is a puddle under the car.......bugger.

Got it up on the ramps and sorted the handbreak and bled the brakes as planned.....but as you know as one thing is sorted another rears its head.

The leak is coming down the side of the tank, forming under and dripping off. about 1 drip every 10 seconds. Cars in my garage now and is going for the MOT to see what it will fail on on Wednesday.

The pictures below may help (yes that bowl is to catch the petrol), any advise on where to start looking or simple fix / worst case scenario is welcome.

The guy at the garage said he thought there was a plastic plug on the side of the tank as an overflow and the petrol was coming from there. But i only put £30 in which took me to 3/4 on the guage, would this be about right? I've never put petrol in it before so was trying to eliminate a possible faulty guage.

[AdamC]

There is a bung on the tank that is notorious for leaking. If only the old site hadn't died as there was an article plus plenty of threads on it. Hopefully somone will remember the details on it and help out.

[Blick]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

mine leaks when i go over half a tank!! guess what i do!? dont fill it over half a tank lol!

it is the bung that it leaks from..... im gonna try silicone it up when i get 5 mins tom, c if that sorts it. think everybody with a 5 has had this problem at some point.

[Sparkie]

its not a bung. its part of the moulding of the inner tank, where the outer moulding of the tank doesnt cover it.....

you dont need to drop the tank to sort this.

make sure you have less fuel in there than at which point it start leaking!

get some windscreen sealant / tiger seal / sikaflex.
get a knife of the kitchen / utensil variety.

put a blob of sealant on the knife, slip the knife up the gap between the body and the tank, and wipe the blob off into the space thats leaking.

repeat until the space is totally full of sealant.

then leave it overnight.

should be sorted.

[J8TRO]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

thanks for the responces. I'll try and get it sorted asap. If i need to wait for the petrol to drain i may be in for some wait. I recon since 10 this morning its leaked less than 1/4 of a litre based on whats in the bowl under the car.....i put 27 litres in!

Plus, the house bloody stinks of petrol and its giving me a head ache!

[J8TRO]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Anyone got a photo of a tank off the car to show me where i should be applying the mastic?

Thanks

[RHYSB]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

hi there m8 i am only in wombourne and ryan p in dudley just drop us a pm if u need any help as we are only down the road

[raj]

since where on the subject, ive asked before but since forgotten...how can i empty the fuel tank? the cars not running yet and the fuel is over 5yrs old, i was told to bridge some wires but im not the beast when it comes to electrics etc! is there any manual way of doing it? any pipe i can take off to get the fuel flowing out?

[samb5]

ur best bet would be to bridge the wires to flow it out as there aint no drain holes or nothing really, unless u wanna take tank off an tip it out , or maybe take your sender unit out of tank from under the rear seat an get a little suction pump..

[raj]

bridge what wires exactly? what colours?etc im clueless without any visual discription.

[J8TRO]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Sam,

Thats a top offer mate, already been in touch with Ryan........As much as i think i know what i'm doing and know how to do it i never have the right tools.

Either you or Ryan going to ND? I'll be there on the Sunday.

[James5]

Assume the fuel pump relay wires matey take it out and bridge the red and white wires this turn the pump on and push it though, take the feed that comes out of the pump under the car and put a longer pipe on to a spare jerry can to collect the crappy fuel

[Ashy]

take the fuel inlet pipe off the carb and stick it into a container. THen go in the car, remove the fuel pump relay (passenger side footwell behind the fuse box). Pull the connector off the relay and stick a bit of wire in to bridge the thick red and white wires!! THis will fire the pump up and squirt fuel into your container!

[raj]

ok thanks, is that the only relay down the back of the fuse box or is there more? iif there is,is it pretty obvious to know which is the fuel pump relay?

[Ashy]

its probably obvious if you know what you are looking for, Its got Cartier written on the side... Think its 6 pin, its rectangular and it'll have a big fat red wire and big fat white wire going to it.

Have a look I think you'll spot it.

[James5]

Their is a few different relays under there but it looks like this matey

[raj]

OHHH RIIIIIGHT! thats what that is, ive got one sat on the garage shelf if also got a red relay of some sort too.

[Misky]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Anyone got a photo of a tank off the car to show me where i should be applying the mastic?

Thanks

I have just changed my tank due to the same problems as you mate.
Put a new one on, then you can be reassured of no leaks for a good few years.
I will take some pics of my old tank for you tonight.
The previous owners filled the bung with bodyfiller.
Good job its now in safe hands.

[BriC]

Is that why it was munching through petrol, or did you swap the GTT tank over?

[Misky]

Is that why it was munching through petrol, or did you swap the GTT tank over?

When i converted it I had to switch tanks over for the reserve tank (which a campus does not have) and due to that the main tank had to be changed.

The petrol was eating the bodyfiller for fun when I filled the tank all the way up.
Was a pain to empty out as there not much room on axel stands and petol can hurt the eyes I should know! But its an easy job to do really and I would say its worth doing.

[BriC]

Cool man.. BTW, I'm not gonna be able to come down this Sunday - doing an engine swap on my new campus . Also, me and a few mates are planning on spraying it Matt Green - Camo style

Will pop down soon though

[Misky]

Cool man.. BTW, I'm not gonna be able to come down this Sunday - doing an engine swap on my new campus . Also, me and a few mates are planning on spraying it Matt Green - Camo style

Will pop down soon though

No worries pal. Have fun. done it all before.
Dont paint it! Noooooo!

[BriC]

Shut it you shlag! The paintwork is rough as fook!