Fuel tank leaking around sender unit

[FRENCHMICK]

Hi guys, here we go again !

I filled my factory built Megablade up today at the filling station, I have not had the car long.

The car was built bybWestfield around 2001 and has done just 4000 miles.

AfterI had paid for the fuel I walked back to the car to see fuel dripping from the rear of the car. Not a lot of fuel, just a little, so took the car home to examine where the leak was, what I discovered is not good, the fuel sender was secured by only one screw, the other four just go through the top of the sender and into the large hole in the tank, there are no other holes in the tank, I have the construction manuel for SE and SEI and on page 88 the picture of the tank shows the tank having a large hole and five holes around the large hole, my tank does not have the five holes.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on ? I am sure the tank is original.

I don't have a fuel gauge on the car, instead I have a five led display, which shows a full tank by all the led's being lite, is this original ? it certainly look original on the dash board.

Does anyone know what make or unit is used as the sender unit ?

Any help on this dangerous situation would be gratefully received, thank you.

Cheers,

Mick

[Thrustyjust]

Pictures paint a thousand words, but you should have a half dozen bolts holding the sender to the tank to squash the sealing flange and prevent leaks.

[FRENCHMICK]

If I could upload photos that would be great, but to date I have had no success with uploading photos to this site.

The sender unit has five screws, however only one seems to tighten, when I loosen the one screw that is tight, I can sort of see a plate inside the tank which appears to have some tapped holes, but when I try to put a screw in I cannot get it to engage in the thread, I am concerned that if I undo the one tight screw that something is going to drop in the tank !

I have just seen on this sight that a 2000 SEIW tank did only have one large hole and no holes around the large hole.

If I undo the one screw that is sort of holding the fuel sender unit in place, should I be able to remove the sender unit complete ?

[Thrustyjust]

I upload to tinypic.com Have the photo saved to a file on your pc etc, then browse to find it ( it will prompt you) set the size to message board and upload. It may ask to you upload a password , but you dont need an account. Then copy and paste the image and paste to the reply here.

[FRENCHMICK]

Ok thanks for that Trustyjust, I will take some photos tomorrow and have a go at posting them.

Thanks a lot,

Mick

[darve]

Mine only has the one big hole. You have a disk on the inside with threaded holes that when tightened up clamps the tank between it and the sender. There should be a gasket.

One of the screws is longer than the rest. All the short screws are removed and the long one is losened. This is to allow the plate to be losened off and the whole sender and plate can be twisted out (there is a gap in the circumference of the disk to allow this)

Quite hard to explain :/

[Andy (Sycho)]

As said above if it looks like this

I would say you need to take it out & find some new screws/bolts.

[FRENCHMICK]

Hi everyone, thank you once again for your help.

After another examination once I saw your posts and photo, I found that only one of the screws was actually screwed into the plate inside the tank, the other missed the plate completely, I cannot imagine how this has come about, anyway once all the screws were in their correct place the plate pulled up fine and compressed the rubber seal.

Thanks a lot.

Cheers,

Mick

[CosKev]

Would be a good idea like in Andys pic to mark the long bolt so you know which one needs to stay attached to the clamping ring to stop it dropping in the tank if it ever needs to be removed again

[bigals]

a drop of blue loctight might be a good idea if the screws are working lose

[tex]

Iv got the sender set up on mine.

It should be a horse shoe style plate inside the tank with one bolt longer than the rest to aid fitment of the ring.

All the holes should be used. Clean the mating surfaces before reassembly. The led gauge is not the best tbh, they break very easy, like fall to bits. If you can fit a gauge it would be better. Youd get a sender and gasket to go with it hopefully.

The sender that came with mine leaked all the time.

Dont put any silicone anywhere near the inside of the tank as it will come loose and float into the fuel lines.

If you need to make a new gasket from a sheet of rubber stuff you need only nitrile rubber, anything else will fail. 1mm to 1.5mm is fine. Make sure everything is spotless on the mating face, petrol is good at finding gaps. The vapour you smell is the flammable stuff not the fuel.. So be careful.