Massive fuel leak.How to drop tank?

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Jukelemon

Jukelemon

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Louisville, KY
Hi fellows.


So, I go to take my little gal fishing, hop in the truck and go to the bait store. When I get there, I smell gas and I am like, damn people, can't you fix your cars before you go out and leak gas. Well, low and behold, I start sniffing around and I see dripping coming from....my tank. Doh!
We are talking a lot-looks like your condenser after running the air.

So, I have 0 clue as to how this happened i.e. no trails, no wrecks, no rust on this tank or lines. So, I get back home start wiping off the gas trying to find the leak. Finally see that it is coming from where the tank was welded together. So, I drain the tank, take off the bolts and it will not drop. It looks like the gas hose/lines are keeping it from dropping. That is all fine and good except I can not see how in the heck to get the lines off since they are 1-obstructed by the frame and 2-I can barely see them.

The FSM's level of specificity is this..."Drop the tank" ( :

Help please.

Thx
 
Should be shortys from the hard line, there "might" be an access cover in the bed somewhere, but I usually cut them if they are tooo much of a PITA and replace with slightly longer ones upon reinstallation....

Dan
 
Not following you on how you can cut the main fuel inlet i.e. coming from the gas cap. I am pretty sure there is no access point from the bed-should be in this scenario. It seems almost easier just to remove the bed entirely-that does not seem like it would be that difficult to do.
 
Ahh, I thought you were talking about the outlet lines to the engine. I've never dropped a tank in a 92, and I never had to on my 94 4runner, so this may or may not help, but there should be several bolts inside the fuel door that release the main inlet, and then it should drop out.

Good luck,
Dan
 
Ah, that would certainly help-the bolts to the hose. I would hope that that would allow some wiggle room.

I am stunned at how a tank can just start leaking to this extent. I mean it is like it just let go at the seams.

Have you guys taken off a bed before? Is it a matter of 6/8 bolts, two fellows and it is off?

Thx
 
Took off one on an 81 mini, 6 bolts I think, but they were rusty and stuck as all get out.

On yer 92 there might be some brackets and wiring attached to the bed, but I don't think it will be any easier than dropping the tank. If it was, that would be a pretty strange design.



Dan
 
Cube Dweller said:
On my '91 runner there's an access door under the rear seats. There's a hard line, compression fitting that needs to be loosened, a vent line, the filler, the fuel pump power line and the sender line.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think that is a similar set up for non bedded (as in truck) Toyotas. That is how my 100 series cruiser was in the seats. This has got to be a different scenario.
 
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I don't think there's a hole on the truck beds... Is the tank even moving? You took out whatever was holding it? You may want to just loosen the bed and jack up the pass side? Might not be too bad, just watch for wires.
 
All brackets that hold the tank are off. It has to be the filler neck holding it up. I think that when I unbolt the neck, the tank will drop enough to release all of the other wiring and plumbing. The truck is not rusted at all so removing the bed would probably not be that difficult.

But, we will see what happens.

Any suggestion for a tank? This would be a great opportunity to a get an extended range tank. OEM from Toyota is going to run about 270.00 not including new seals for the pump and sending unit assembly.
 
OK, found the leak. It was a rusted out hardline off of the tank. The bitch about it is that I have to order the entire fuel pump hardware-minus of course the fuel pump since it all connected i.e. you cannot just replace one line.

OH, well. Should be less expensive than a tank though ( :
 
This is a very common failure. A friend of mine recently GAVE me a '92 Corolla that had this same problem, the local garage quoted him $600 to fix it and the car wasn't worth it to him. Part was less than $100, now my daughter has a decent DD to learn to drive on.

There is no tank access panel in the bed of the pickups, any year.

Removing the bed isn't hard, I've done mine a few times. There should be 8 bolts. Remove the taillights, unplug the harness from them and the license plate lights. Unsnake the harness out of the sheetmetal, leave it hanging from the frame. There should be a shorty ground strap at the front edge of the bed, near the frame, unscrew it. Unbolt the gas filler hose. Prepare a couple of sawhorses to hold it, lift it off with a buddy or 2. The mudflaps will hang down and cause you the most grief, lift it high and walk backwards. Plop it on the sawhorses, or stand it up on the front end.

Might want to replace all the bolts with stainless ones while you have them out.
 
Thanks man, but dropping the tank, once I learned/found the secret, is quite easy.

I need to go to the stealership to get pricing or get to CDAN
 
Well, 180.00 for fuel pump bracket/hard lines, .80 for each screw, 12.00 for a new gasket and 55.00 for a new flex line.... Um, pretty darn close to a new tank ( :

At least it should last for another 15 years though.

Thanks for your help guys.
 
That'll be 29.95 plus tax, but with a mud discount you only owe .02 and I'll waive that for good behavior....


Glad you got it fixed,
Dan
 
You guys are funny.

On a different note, I could not believe how rusted the hard lines were off that tank. I mean they just snapped off with any kind of movement.
 
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