Petrol on boot floor
Discussion
Had the Cerb serviced a couple of weeks ago, but apart from the drive home, haven't used it much since. I've been aware of the odd whiff of fuel from time to time though (since the service).
Today, I filled it with fuel for the first time since the service. Open the boot, and find the floor is soaking in what I thought was water (I had a water leak before). When I got home I realised that it was petrol! About half a gallon in total by the time I had sponged it into a container!
This photo shows the boot, with the bright yellow colour showing where the pools of fuel were (and I do mean pools), and the lighter shading showing how much of the carpet had fuel in it. The bits that aren't yellow, are bone dry.
I can't see where it's leaking from. The filler tube is bone dry, and so are the sides and the carpet on the back of the tank. I'm not sure, but I think that the fuel feed pipe is taken off inside the boot underneath the tank on the passenger side. I don't know where the return pipe is though. During the service, the garage said that they replaced a corroded fuel hose clip (which I thought was at the pump connection) but I'll have to check exactly where that was - the car is parked with the passenger side against a fence and I'm scared to start it now!
However, I notice that the tank sits on a wee carpeted shelf, and the carpet is wet under the offside corner (where the red arrow points) so that suggests that the leak is mainly on that side.
I'll have to call the garage on Monday and find out a wee bit more about this hose clip they replaced... There was no problem before, so the chances are...
I've left the car outside with the boot open to let some of the remaining fuel evaporate. That will also allow any leak (if there is one) to show itself again without the car's movement swilling the fuel around.
Hope nobody chucks a match over my garden fence (or on the other hand, I might not be that bothered any more...)
Has anybody with more knowledge of the fuel set up than I have (that means just about everybody) any ideas?
Today, I filled it with fuel for the first time since the service. Open the boot, and find the floor is soaking in what I thought was water (I had a water leak before). When I got home I realised that it was petrol! About half a gallon in total by the time I had sponged it into a container!
This photo shows the boot, with the bright yellow colour showing where the pools of fuel were (and I do mean pools), and the lighter shading showing how much of the carpet had fuel in it. The bits that aren't yellow, are bone dry.
I can't see where it's leaking from. The filler tube is bone dry, and so are the sides and the carpet on the back of the tank. I'm not sure, but I think that the fuel feed pipe is taken off inside the boot underneath the tank on the passenger side. I don't know where the return pipe is though. During the service, the garage said that they replaced a corroded fuel hose clip (which I thought was at the pump connection) but I'll have to check exactly where that was - the car is parked with the passenger side against a fence and I'm scared to start it now!
However, I notice that the tank sits on a wee carpeted shelf, and the carpet is wet under the offside corner (where the red arrow points) so that suggests that the leak is mainly on that side.
I'll have to call the garage on Monday and find out a wee bit more about this hose clip they replaced... There was no problem before, so the chances are...
I've left the car outside with the boot open to let some of the remaining fuel evaporate. That will also allow any leak (if there is one) to show itself again without the car's movement swilling the fuel around.
Hope nobody chucks a match over my garden fence (or on the other hand, I might not be that bothered any more...)
Has anybody with more knowledge of the fuel set up than I have (that means just about everybody) any ideas?
Edited by tvrgit on Saturday 18th February 14:26
Good point Allan, I hadn't thought of the effect of petrol on the fibreglass, either weakening it or saturating it so that it's flammable!
Carpets all now removed and hung up to ventilate, boot floor cleaned with a degreaser and dried throughly. No obvious signs of any effect on the fibreglass but I suppose I'll have to wait and see...
I'll move the car away from the fence tomorrow and try to figure out where this hose and clip is that they changed. There's no fuel dripping down underneath though, and no sign of any staining on the underbody, so it must be inside the boot.
Carpets all now removed and hung up to ventilate, boot floor cleaned with a degreaser and dried throughly. No obvious signs of any effect on the fibreglass but I suppose I'll have to wait and see...
I'll move the car away from the fence tomorrow and try to figure out where this hose and clip is that they changed. There's no fuel dripping down underneath though, and no sign of any staining on the underbody, so it must be inside the boot.
scotty_d said:
Only i thing i can think of off the top of my head and i know you said it is bone dry, Try nipping up the jubile Clip from the filler. The return hose i think comes back in from the Offside rear wheel arch IIRC.
Sorry Scott, didn't see your post earlier, I was typing mine!The filler clips are all tight, I checked those.
I have all the carpets out, and dried the floor. I've just been back out - Puddle B is starting to re-form, areas A and C are still dry. If the return is behind the offseide wheel arch as you say, then that's my prime suspect.
Can anybody confirm?
A brief update: after leaving the car overnight, there is a noticeable pool of fuel at point B again. Everything else is bone dry.
To investigate further, I pulled out the control boxes on top of the tank, and found that there is a hose into the top right corner of the tank, right above puddle B. I guess this is the return hose that Scotty was talking about. The hose feels dry though, and I couldn't feel any sign of any leakage around it...
I did manage to get the camera in and take a photo looking straight downwards - the back of the tank is on the bottom of the photo, and you can see that the shelf that the tank sits on, is wet. You can see the hose and you can also see (now that I've processed the photo, you can't see on the car, unless your eye is on a stalk) that the carpet alongside and underneath that hose also looks wet. I've just been back out to the car and it doesn't feel wet though...
You can alse see, under the hose, what looks like a red brick colour. That's my driveway. There are two holes about 1 inch diameter in the floor there, right behind the wheel arch. I am sure those had grommets in... There's no fuel leaking out of those though, there is a vertical compartment wall between those, and the tank.
I also managed to rig up a mirror and a light to see the boot floor under the front of the tank at the filler end - it looks bone dry...
I have drained 7 gallons of fuel out of the tank (it's now about 1/4 full) and have cleaned up the spillage again, so I'll leave it again and see if it's still leaking.
Next step is to try to get my hand in there to check the tightness of that hose clip. If that's ok, I'll try starting the car and see what happens when the system is pressurised...
To investigate further, I pulled out the control boxes on top of the tank, and found that there is a hose into the top right corner of the tank, right above puddle B. I guess this is the return hose that Scotty was talking about. The hose feels dry though, and I couldn't feel any sign of any leakage around it...
I did manage to get the camera in and take a photo looking straight downwards - the back of the tank is on the bottom of the photo, and you can see that the shelf that the tank sits on, is wet. You can see the hose and you can also see (now that I've processed the photo, you can't see on the car, unless your eye is on a stalk) that the carpet alongside and underneath that hose also looks wet. I've just been back out to the car and it doesn't feel wet though...
You can alse see, under the hose, what looks like a red brick colour. That's my driveway. There are two holes about 1 inch diameter in the floor there, right behind the wheel arch. I am sure those had grommets in... There's no fuel leaking out of those though, there is a vertical compartment wall between those, and the tank.
I also managed to rig up a mirror and a light to see the boot floor under the front of the tank at the filler end - it looks bone dry...
I have drained 7 gallons of fuel out of the tank (it's now about 1/4 full) and have cleaned up the spillage again, so I'll leave it again and see if it's still leaking.
Next step is to try to get my hand in there to check the tightness of that hose clip. If that's ok, I'll try starting the car and see what happens when the system is pressurised...
Edited by tvrgit on Sunday 19th February 23:36
Another update - I had the car trailered to the garage yesterday, and they have removed the tank and found a tiny pinhole where the seam has rusted in that bottom corner where the red arrow is in the first photo above.
They are having it repaired by a specialist so I'm hoping I don't need to source another one.
Check those tanks for fumes chaps!
They are having it repaired by a specialist so I'm hoping I don't need to source another one.
Check those tanks for fumes chaps!
This has corroded where the tank has been sitting on the fibreglass, well away from the securing straps etc. It's a bit mysterious, but there's the diagnosis and there's the photo.
As I said in the OP, I did have a water leak into the boot for a while - and a 5 litre bottle of antifreeze with a little split in it, which didn't help... do you know how long it takes antifreeze to evaporate? Neither do I, it's only been a year and a half and the carpets still felt wet (even though it wasn't)... but now I do know (like rock paper scissors) that petrol removes antifreeze, and hanging the carpets outside evaorates petrol, so all's well that ends well. I suspect that's the source of the corrosion though.
Nobody exploded and nobody died. Both of those things might happen when the bank statement for the service and repairs, and now this, comes in though.
As I said in the OP, I did have a water leak into the boot for a while - and a 5 litre bottle of antifreeze with a little split in it, which didn't help... do you know how long it takes antifreeze to evaporate? Neither do I, it's only been a year and a half and the carpets still felt wet (even though it wasn't)... but now I do know (like rock paper scissors) that petrol removes antifreeze, and hanging the carpets outside evaorates petrol, so all's well that ends well. I suspect that's the source of the corrosion though.
Nobody exploded and nobody died. Both of those things might happen when the bank statement for the service and repairs, and now this, comes in though.
Gassing Station | Cerbera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff