Petrol Tank breather ?

[dukeenfield]

Hi,I noticed on the n/s petrol tank,there's a pipe that's been blocked of at top of tank,is this suppose to be a breather for that tank and is it a common practice to block them off,thanks Ken.

[SEvans]

I think this may be normal. Mine was the same but it is/was a Tasmin 200 with mechanical fuel pump, so i always thought it was something to do with the injection fuel system on a 280 or 350. Not so sure now.

[bobfrance]

Just looked at the very same thing myself this morning.

Filled up the car yesterday, went for a drive (about 10 miles). When I got home I found petrol coming out from under the filler cap and running down the side of my nice clean paintwork!

I was suprised to see it overflowing as I hadn't really "brimmed" it at the petrol station. When I returned to it this morning the petrol level had dropped completely out of sight.

Spoke to my mechanic and he tells me to get a new petrol cap as mine's obviously shagged (I already knew this) and not to worry - as it was just the petrol expanding as it got warm - the tank is quite close to the exhaust pipes after all.

He is going to check over the beather system for me when the car is next in, so I'd be keen to find out a little more about it as well.

Bob.