E30 Zone

Hi,
Not had the tourer very long ..
First time I filled up with petrol to the top, rather than just 10/15 litres, there's a really strong stink of fumes. So I have jst had the seats out and looked through the inspection/access panels and the thick black line has perished.





The metal part that it attaches to is also very rusty.

So do I have to find a new tank or can this pipe be easily replaced ?
If I replace it then can you tell me where it goes as I can't seem to see where it ends up.

Thanks,

G

Hi I am not the best person to give advice but that looks terminal to me.Have you tried to clean up the rust,I would think that it will be paper thin, as I did the same with brake pipes and as soon as I touched the rust the pipe broke.You will have to take the tank out anyway to weld I would think, and if you are going to that bother I would invest in a new tank.But as I say I am not the best for giving advice and someone with more savvy than me might have a better idea.Good luck Jim

that is terminal mate try cleaning it up the pop along to you local parts man ang get a bit of fuel pipe connect it to the end on the tank and the other end is just below the tank if your lucky and it dont leek or fall to bits you have saved yourself a load of greif .

dont know about you guys but i couldnt leave that in my car....once id seen it i would have to get a new tank. even if you did manage to get a new pipe on it i could guarantee it wont seal properly with all that rust.

best to be safe and take the hit for a new tank.

i have a tank in my scrapper i had to change mine in my 320 what a job

That conection is for the breather system. It goes out into the rear arch inside a sleeve and then into the vapour catch tank up behind the inner wheel arch plastic.

If that tank is that rotten there, it will be worse in other more exposed places I can promise you.

Get new one! Pattern fuel tank from GSF is £80.

There is zero slack available to cut off the frayed end of that pipe and pull it forward. You really need to get a new length of that main dealer too.

Hmm..

It's a bit of a bit@h to remove and replace, but it's fairly straight forward.
1. Undo all the Jubilee clips that attach to the tank from underside.
2. The 2 black hoses that leads off to the right of screen need to be seperated.
3. the 3 plugs need to come off( the 2 in pic and 1 on the LHS)
4. Remove Exhaust, Exhaust shield and prop.
5. From underneath:
a) The fuel filter needs to be unplugged from the hard line at the body.
b) The Fuel return line needs to be seperated from the tank (There's one of those funky jubilee clips holding 2 plastic lines together)
c) The main fuel filer line (rubber) needs to be undone from the tank
d) 4 bolts and 1 nut hold the tank on.

it might be a bit hard to remove it, but you'll have to wiggle and pull at it before it comes off.

Putting it back in can be fun! It's basically the reverse of removal, but one of the bolts (the one that holds the Pax side up has the fuel filter holder with it can be a bit fiddly. You might need to remove the rubber grommet.

Tips:
A ratchet spanner is VERY handy to remove the 2 bolts up near the rear subframe beam.
A catch can to catch all the fuel that will spill out.
patience!

Good luck and good hunting!

That is one seriously rusty looking tank. Never seen anything remotely as bad as that before!
Never had too much difficulty in removing fuel tanks personally, as long as you give the fixing bolts a good dose of WD40 first.
Take the tank out, clean it up a bit and see how bad it really is. Around the filler pipe stub is the usual worst place.
Check out/replace the rear brake lines while the tank is out.

Thanks very much for all your comments, advice and instructions.
Shame we don't have GSF in Denmark - looking at about 110 quid new or 50 quid for a good used one. For something like this I guess new is best.
Will use the car and empty the tank naturally ... then maybe take it out and have a good look.
The metal around the stub is ok underneath .. just worried about getting an airtight connection on the stub though.
Will have to read up on prop removal too .. that'll be a first.

Thanks again,

G

I was looking at mine yesterday and a 55L tank is £125 from GSF the bigger one is more. On mine there are 3 metal lines that run along the passenger side of the car send, return and one that just goes to the front wing via a rubber hose that is just free in the inner wing. My send and return didnt look to bad so I decided to give them a wire brush and coat of hammerite but the return sprouted a leek almost as soon as i touched it. So my advice is just replace it all.
Anyone know the best place to get the metal lines and what should i do with the breather as its the worst. Also can you replace the filler pipe without removing the tank.
Thanks in advance and sorry for Hijacking your thread!

Prop removal is easy just use the handbrake and a spanner, the exhaust is harder as the fixings are allways rusty and either snap or round.

I'd have the prop/centre bearing overhauled at the same time while it's off the car if I were you.