gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

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zabo
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gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Fri Apr 15, 2016 4:22 am

I've been fighting a gas smell for a while.
I can only smell it inside the car. I dont see any drips and no smell in engine bay.

it usually only occurs with a full tank but yesterday it happened on 1/2 tank after i took a pretty hard corner.

ive replaced all the small rubber hoses, the filler neck and the tank elbow. My last guess is the sender seal. If you have others let me know :)

How hard is this to replace without pulling the engine? I know colin did it recently in his westy, but didn't know if there were differences on the 78 that might make it harder.
60 beetle
78 bus

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Amskeptic
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by Amskeptic » Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:37 am

zabo wrote:I've been fighting a gas smell for a while.
I can only smell it inside the car. I dont see any drips and no smell in engine bay.

it usually only occurs with a full tank but yesterday it happened on 1/2 tank after i took a pretty hard corner.

ive replaced all the small rubber hoses, the filler neck and the tank elbow. My last guess is the sender seal. If you have others let me know :)

How hard is this to replace without pulling the engine? I know colin did it recently in his westy, but didn't know if there were differences on the 78 that might make it harder.
If you have a 1978, do you have an intact fuel evaporative canister just behind the battery? Fresh air hose leading to it from the r/s upper cylinder cover? Hose going from the top of the canister to the EEC valve on the air filter housing? Intact yellow plastic lines leading from the fuel tank vapor lines to the canister? Any breach in the system, welcome to fuel vapor.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Sun Apr 17, 2016 6:39 am

If you have a 1978, do you have an intact fuel evaporative canister just behind the battery? yes Fresh air hose leading to it from the r/s upper cylinder cover? any pics of this? i only see three hoses coming off canister. two on top then a thick one on bottom that dead ends behind the battery Hose going from the top of the canister to the EEC valve on the air filter housing? yes Intact yellow plastic lines leading from the fuel tank vapor lines to the canister? yes Any breach in the system, welcome to fuel vapor.
Colin
60 beetle
78 bus

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Amskeptic
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:03 am

zabo wrote: Fresh air hose leading to it from the r/s upper cylinder cover?
i only see a thick one on bottom that dead ends behind the battery.
The bottom one goes here . . .

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:05 am

ah this one is not connected. ill replace and refresh charcoal canister as well. thanks
60 beetle
78 bus

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Sun Apr 17, 2016 12:33 pm

well got everything back in and filled the canister with fresh charcoal. -with help fromthis post

We'll see wht happens but i have a feeling i'll wind up replacing the sender seal.
60 beetle
78 bus

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Amskeptic
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Apr 17, 2016 1:43 pm

zabo wrote:well got everything back in and filled the canister with fresh charcoal. -with help fromthis post

We'll see wht happens but i have a feeling i'll wind up replacing the sender seal.
Why? Did someone take the sender seal out at some prior point? Undisturbed, they last forever.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Sun Apr 17, 2016 3:20 pm

I guess im thinking tht because the fuel smell is so strong sometimes. I'm having a hard time believing it could be from tht one disconnected hose.
60 beetle
78 bus

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Bleyseng
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Apr 18, 2016 7:01 am

Amskeptic wrote:
zabo wrote: Fresh air hose leading to it from the r/s upper cylinder cover?
i only see a thick one on bottom that dead ends behind the battery.
The bottom one goes here . . .

Image

Now there is a good photo of how the heat dump piping looks!!
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Thu Apr 28, 2016 4:54 am

Now there is a good photo of how the heat dump piping looks!!
what hose are you guys using for heat dump? l bought some 50mm but its a bit too small.
60 beetle
78 bus

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asiab3
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by asiab3 » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:20 am

Are you using the factory '78 metal tubes with the short hose as a connector, or are you making the entire thing out of the heater hose?
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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zabo
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Re: gas smell? - fuel sender seal - 78 bus

Post by zabo » Thu Apr 28, 2016 10:08 am

asiab3 wrote:Are you using the factory '78 metal tubes with the short hose as a connector, or are you making the entire thing out of the heater hose?
yes factory tubes with short hose
60 beetle
78 bus

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