22 replies to this topic

[ZED]

Having recently restored my car, to my horrer, there is fuel leaking from the filler cap, the whole panel under the filler cap is stained and the paint along the seem has bubbled up and at the bottom, come away completely. I first discovered the problem a couple of months ago, and got a new filler cap, but to no avail.

2 questions, 1 how do I stop the fuel comming out?
2, how do I remove the staining?

all help gratefully received

Zed

[taffy1967]

Are you overfilling the tank?

I've seen petrol splashing out of my mates old Mini when he took a bend too fast and that was just after filling it right up whilst heading for a Mini show.

Is the filler neck top (where the cap sits) in good shape and not bent or damaged in any way?

How about the fuel vent pipe that attaches at the top of the fuel tank. Is that chaffing or snagged and not able to vent out through the boot floor?

Oh and I imagine you don't need a vented fuel cap, so if you've fitted a vented cap, could that be causing the problem?

Edited by taffy1967, 26 December 2008 - 07:35 PM.

[Rosslin Racing]

new seal may be a good move

[taffy1967]

new seal may be a good move

He's already fitted a new filler cap.

As for the staining, perhaps a good car polish will sort that out?

[ZED]

I was filling all the way to the top but my brother suggested I don't do that any more. The last 3 fills have been below the filler pipe. My brother ( he's the mechanical one of the family ) also sorted out the filler hole, it had become misshaped but he made it round again. I am not sure if it is a vented filler cap, hjow would I tell? I have tried to sort out the paintwork with t cut and then a good polish but the staining seems to be too deep, and where it has bubbled up and come away, I have only put on under coat so far. I am pritty gutted to be honest.

Zed

[dklawson]

I don't think they were suggesting a vented cap. The top of the fuel tank in the boot will have a very small tubing nipple on it. A piece of 1/4" OD plastic tubing should be attached to that nipple. The other end of that tube is open and exits the boot floor. You must have an open vent tube for the car to run properly... a vacuum will develop in the tank if you don't have the vent.

The early caps had a dismal seal on them which could let fuel ooze out, particularly if you were parked sideways on a hill or slope. Not filling the tank so close to the top is the first fix. The second possibility is to make a second rubber sealing ring and fit it to the cap in addition to the one that's already there. I rebuilt the caps that are on my car by using two such layers of rubber rings separated by two layers of thin Teflon sheet (also cut into rings). The thicker rubber layers "squish" to make the seal. The Teflon rings slip over each other to allow the rubber rings to slip relative to each other and seal without distorting as you tighten the cap.

[ZED]

now that is a good idea, I still have the origenal cap, would it work if I got the old seal and stuck it to the new one?

Z

[ZED]

any ideas about saving the paintwork?

z

[Dan]

Buy a Mini Spares fuel drip catcher.

[RowenBlaineSkinley]

might be filling the tank too much
need some room in there for when the temperature changes because the fuel tank expands and tightens

[RowenBlaineSkinley]

oh almost forgot

try bit of G3 for the staining


peace x

[Southy]

You probs have the wrong filler cap fitted as i found out earlier on this year.
I didnt know that there are 2 different types of caps, one which is green on the inside and one which is red.
The lugs on the filler caps are different thickness for the earlier and later style tank necks,I believe the earlier ones were the red type and later the green type.

I was using a green cap on a 1980's clubman tank earlier on this year and it was spewing fuel everywhere, i literally could fill it up and after 2 bends it had gone down to 3/4 a tank. I swapped it for a red cap off my 1980's roundnose and the problem was solved right away.

Regarding the paint im not too sure, best off asking in the paint section the lads in there will suggest something.

[philc]

i had the same problem as many people on here have especially when turning right, this is a common problem, i got myself a new tank with one of those stop flap in them, i think they were in the later coopers, I tried new caps without success

[taffy1967]

i had the same problem as many people on here have especially when turning right, this is a common problem, i got myself a new tank with one of those stop flap in them, i think they were in the later coopers, I tried new caps without success

The stop flap was fitted to prevent owners from filling up with anything other than unleaded fuel.

So yes it got introduced with the Rover Cooper in 1990 I believe as that was the first model to get a cat fitted as standard?

[ZED]

I had a go at the staining with some fairy liquid power spray, I think it got a lot of it off, can't really tell in the garage light but the cloth was really dirty after the wiping.

I may need to get that panel resprayed as all the paint along the seem has bubbled up and I have just rubbed it off. I have cleaned up the area with a prepaint cloth and using my halfords touch up kit, put a layer of grey primer where all the paint came off. It looks awful! but I have some touch up paint from the respray and I'll give it a go later.

Z