98 c280 Gas Fuel Tank Leaking

[adamsry]

Well im still ahead of the game in getting this new addition to the family fixed, but damn every week i have this car i discover new issues thankfully i can fix them thus far.

There seems to be a raw fuel leek from the driver's side looking from the front of the car rear right side. Today i was completing my door repairs replacing the internal cabin air filter and 20 min prior filled the gas tank to the brim, now there is this lingering oder of gas i checked under the vehicle and AHA the culprit the tank "Please dont have a crack"!!! I suspect it is the return lines have gotten loose or corroded but... was wondering if there were some quick pointers someone could address.

The forums show to remove the wheel and the plastic shroud and i presume that i can see these fuel lines ?

Hopefully it will simply be a fitting or gasket replacement but my understand-n is this bad boy holds roughly 17 gallons, 50.00 in fuel here and i hope i don't have to drain it.

I can see the raw fuel and this expanins the oily smell the car has so need to correct this prior to the cleaning of the vehicle.

New paint job soon, will have some pix !!!

[adamsry]

After Closer inspection there is a cover with 3 10 mm screws there is a fuel level sender in there, evidently one of the gaskets is leaking, the dealer of corse is of no help.

Any suggestions on a way to drain the fuel tank relatively safely with out blowing my self up <G> this appears to be at the lowest sump so needless to say i need to dump a full tank of high test.

[junklar]

adamsry,

they sell vacuum pumps that can suck the gas out.. I think it costs around $20 at autozone.. and i'm in the same situation as you in terms of finding new issues.. the previous owner did not take care of the car at all

[adamsry]

Correction the car is a 94 c280 but it turns out there is a flange as it is called on the bottom of the sender unit an 8MM hex will remove it, there seems to be a valve in there that prevents gas from flowing out good thing i thought i was going to have to evacuate the tank. After inspecting this so called flange looks like a beer bottle cap but a tad larger there is a gasket in it and obviously was damaged the gasket has numerous cracks and defiantly need to be replaced. So i did and now no more leak whew i figured that this would get quite expensive. From all of this i have learned that my local dealer is a total screw off and if you need parts check all the dealers in a 2 hour radius as they may have better part pricing. The o ring at the dealer in town wanted 20 bucks!! opposed to 1.25 from one a little out of the way. ( Fortunately i had an o ring that fit so my cost was 0.00)