Working on 1998 V70 fuel tank/pump/hoses when it's full

dynamaniac · Post by **dynamaniac** » 13 Oct 2020, 17:56

1998 V70 N/A, 160k miles.

A few months back, I noticed a slight gas smell and had my mechanic investigate it while he was looking into another issue. He said the collar on the top of the fuel tank (I believed that goes to the fuel pump?) was loose, so he cinched it back down, and the fuel smell went away.

It's been another 2000 miles since then. I just noticed a strong fuel smell after filling up upon returning home from a long road trip. Looks like a slow, maybe seep-y leak from the top of the tank, near the filler and vent hoses/tubes. No puddling, but clearly wet with fuel down to the big interface with the filler tube. I'm going to pop open the fuel pump cover to take a look soon, since it seems likely the leak is coming from a degraded vent hose or some other component nearby. Hopefully I'll be able to resolve this on my own, there's plenty of good advice on MVS to guide me along the first few branches of the diagnosis decision tree.

Is there anything I should do or be aware of when dealing with this, given that the gas tank is currently full? It sounds like I'd need to have my mechanic do any draining of the tank, but I'm hoping the fix doesn't require draining of or lowering of the tank. I'm wary of driving the car far, but it seems like I could get away with the 1.5 mile drive to the mechanic if it came to it :-/ Any tips at all are greatly appreciated.

Post by **abscate** » 13 Oct 2020, 18:16

You can empty it into a friends car by cracking the union at the fuel rail and using fuel hose to route it to the empty fuel tank

Empty the first two gallons into a gas can for your trip.

Jump the fuel relay with a. Piece of wire to pump gas. It will take 20-30 minutes to empty a full tank

dynamaniac · Post by **dynamaniac** » 14 Oct 2020, 13:33

Would it be dangerous to attempt to fix a broken vent hose if the tank is full? I'm going to still take a look in a few hours... I'll have to let my mechanic handle things if draining the tank is necessary though, not sure I'm equipped to drain the tank myself.

duke1 · Post by **duke1** » 15 Oct 2020, 11:50

dynamaniac wrote: ↑14 Oct 2020, 13:33 Would it be dangerous to attempt to fix a broken vent hose if the tank is full? I'm going to still take a look in a few hours... I'll have to let my mechanic handle things if draining the tank is necessary though, not sure I'm equipped to drain the tank myself.

hi i had similar issue and found theres a vapour collector type thing under the panel on the inside rear of the more or less next to the filler cap and it has a hose that detached and was stinking the car out a new hoseclamp sorted the issue but i should imagine it could be a common issue once car gets a few years behind it,mines a 94 850se also seen on some threads here theres a common fault where pipes for fuel outlet and return terminate on top of the tank but never got that far as the problem was obvious once cover removed,good luck

dynamaniac · Post by **dynamaniac** » 15 Oct 2020, 15:34

Got a first look this afternoon. Am I correct that this is the top of the fuel pump, and that the white ring inside the collar is actually sealant? Looks like the sealant ring has degraded. I'm going to go dry it out and take a closer look in a few hours when it cools off, no fun working on a car during a California heat wave..

Post by **abscate** » 15 Oct 2020, 16:03

Something broken up top and is spewing fuel into the top.