1988 S10 Blazer 4.3 2door.

So I recently (this past Feb.) had my fuel tank, pump & sender replaced. Tank had rusted out, engine kept stalling and the pump was ten years old, so replaced the whole lot. (Stalling was something else, not relevant here.) Ordered new tank from Dorman (via spamazon.com) and had my mechanic install the lot. Now for the past month there's been gas leaking. Mechanic tells me the new tank is bad, but since he didn't supply it he's not warranting it.

The other night, someone called the fire department complaining about the leaking gasoline. I had to do some fast talking to the fire chief to keep them from impounding the car; parked it at the back of my driveway, as he said that if he found it on "his" streets again he's towing it.

So this morning I got out and got under. Took off the shield to see where the leak was coming from, and maybe I can patch it (got some "Magnum Instant Tank Repair"). Turns out, the leaking is coming from under the straps. Both of them.

Now there's no way I'm going to be able to patch that without taking off the whole tank, which isn't something I'm prepared to do at this time. I'm not sure it's even patchable. What I'm wondering, though, is this: Was this an installation problem? Did the mechanic possibly over-tighten the straps, causing stress on the metal? (Tank is in there tight as a sonofagun, I can't budge it a tad.) Or is there supposed to be rubber between the straps and the tank, or some shims under the bolts, that he didn't put there? Because if so, Dorman is not going to honor the lifetime warranty on it (improper installation voids it). Bad enough I'm going to have to pay him labor twice, but if I have to buy another tank because he f'd this one up, I'm finding another mechanic.

And if he did f it up, how do I say so politely?

(His dad was OK, but since the old man retired a couple years ago, the son (who's 12 years younger than I am, and is great with the newer cars, computerised stuff and like that, but he doesn't really know what's up when confronted with a car that was manufactured when he was in grade school) has in my opinion been basically coasting on his father's good name. He had to call in another "expert" to tell him that my 99 Blazer had a second catalytic converter that was stuffed up; he thought it was a resonator.)

 

Dropping the tank isnt a hard task, as long as you have an empty tank. Or get a jackstand with a 2x4 to spread out the weight and raise it up to hold the tank up and remove 1 strap at a time to see where its leaking from. The straps dont have any rubber on them, but I have known some guys to put some on themselves.

 

My guess is that when he put the fuel pump in he didnt get the seal sealed correctly. We just replaced the pump in my tank and the seal was letting gas out so we had to drop it and reseal it once more.

 

Yabbut the sides are dry; the only place where there's any seepage at all is at the bottom. If it was the o-ring or one of the lines, wouldn't the sides of the tank be wet?

Unless the leakage is coming down from the top under the straps and then seeping out. But that's not very likely, given that there's almost nothing at all in the tank and it's still dripping out.

 

The fuel will follow the path of least resistance, so just because its not on the side of the tanks doesnt mean its not leaking from the seal. But you say that the tank is pretty empty, so it would be hard for the gas to splash and leak from the top.

But if you dont want to do the work yourself, take the truck to another shop and just explain to them that its leaking and you want to know why. Dont blame the other mechanic, let them figure it out and explain it to you.

 

Well I finally figured out what the problem was.

There are two series of round indentations, about 1/4" diameter, along the bottom of the tank. I have no idea why they are there. One of the said indentations went almost all the way through the metal, so basically there wasn't anything holding the fuel in except a layer of paint and a bit of metal about as thick as tinfoil. Once that wore off, it started dripping. The giveaway is that the paint rubbed off when I touched it, due to the solvent action of the gasoline. (There wasn't anything under where the straps were.)

So it's a manufacturing defect after all. No way could that have been a puncture, with the shield plate under it. I plugged the hole for now with some fuel tank epoxy, but I want a new tank. Have to call Dorman and arrange that.

 

glad you figured it out. Good luck getting the exchange done. Glad it wasnt your Mechanic.