Someone going to Ledbury? (Fuel tank problems)

[threelitre]

Hi!

With my old fuel tank I had a similar problem as Maria described: One of the retainers of the sender unit holding ring has a crack and is not very strong anymore. Grr, there is no rust on the tank elsewhere!
Trying to fit the sender unit with Hylomar sealing paste was partial, but not complete success - still leaking when nearly full.

Now, I was in the lucky situation having a spare tank in good condition. Fitted it, and it was (now) fully tight.... But when travelling a long distance last weekend I ran in to a new - and unexpected - problem. After the half journey the fuel sender went erratic, after about 430miles I was only able to fill 32 litres into the tank.... Strange, isn't? I also noticed a quite strong vacuum in the tank when opening it. Shock: When looking at the tank under the car, I saw that it was folded - just like one of these little Tetra-Packs with Ribena when you empty it :eek:

Who would have guessed that the fuel pump is so strong? (1.3L) Reason: I did buy a new fuel tank cap when I bought the car (there was none), and they obviously sold me the wrong one (non-vented).

Ok, now I have a leaking tank and a shrinked one :banghead:

Is anybody going to Ledbury in the next weeks and can get me a new tank and matching filler cap? There is certainly a way to get this to me in Germany, when a Friend will be coming over later the year.

Regards,
Alexander

[SimonR]

D'oh!

Sorry Alexander - You're about a week too late! :banghead:

My father went last thursday and stocked up on parts for the various Maestros we have. Maria wasn't interested in a Ladbury tank and I already have one so I didn't get any more...

I'm replacing the one in F153 in the next couple of weeks - not because I need to, but because I can ;)

If the original is in good enough condition you could have that if you like.

Simon R.

[Maria]

I found somewhere local who's welded my tank up. He said something about fitting a new outer ring when I asked, but I haven't got the tank back yet to see what exactly he has done. When I do so, I'll let you know. It's worth asking around (I asked the local garage who gave me the number of someone brave enough to weld tanks, who is actually a car radiator specialist) to see if you can find somewhere that would do it.

[E_T_V]

I had exactly the same problem when I fitted a new tank except mine is worse as the fuel gauge now doesn't work too well. The car actually stopped running and the vacuum in the tank was huge!

I found the easiest solution to drill a tiny (1mm) hole in the petrol cap, and it now works fine.

You might try to unbuckle the tank by either inflating the tank (difficult) or getting a suction dent remover and attaching it to the bottom of the tank and pulling the dent out. That is what I'll try when I get round to it.