question about common gas tank leak issue
 

Question about the gas tank leak issue most people have. I have it on my 01 blazer zr2. Fill it up and a bit leaks out the back and drips down the shield. Friend and I are gonna drop the tank and take a look at it to see where exactly it's leaking soon as I burn up the entire full tank of gas I put in it. (Goddamn I was expecting worse gas mileage... it's like, getting excellent mileage now that I'm trying to get RID of the gas.... I have no way to siphon heh.)


But where is the common leak? A crack in the tank? Seals around the pump/sending unit area? Hoses? Is it repairable without buying a new tank?

Basically what should I be prepared to find?

Thanks!

First I've heard of a common gas tank leak issue. Never had a problem on mine.

It's on the common list of quirks sticky. Found out the hard way mine leaks. :P

There are two methods I'd use for checking for leaks.
1) Go to the gas station with a flash light after dark, and while filling, look thru the drivers side wheel well access shroud as the tank fills. You may be able to identify the leak then. Obvious places would be around the pump seal, the filler neck, and vapor return lines. Any place else is not obvious.
2) (If 1 doesn't ID the leak) Drop the tank. I did a write up a bit ago for changing the pump, and the steps to drop the tank are in it. Be sure to disconnect the lines from the pump before dropping the tank more than 5" or else you'll bust the plastic nipples and spend $300 on a new pump as well.

If it's a pinhole leak, then the tank is probably pretty rusty. In that case, I'd recommend replacing the tank. This will save you from dropping the tank again in 2 months when another hole develops. If you don't want to replace, Anchor Marine sells a decent repair kit for $20, and I'm sure you could get one @ Autozone as well:
http://store.anchormarina.com/anchor...p?ITEM=5390180


A new tank costs $145 + shipping, but I bet you could pick one up for a song from a boneyard with all the ZR2s that were scrapped during cash 4 clunkers.

Best of luck

Bone.. Thank you so much for the advice.

We dropped the tank a few inches to try to check the tank for holes. Nothing we could see looked bad. Top of the tank had no rust and looked clean. So we put it back up and mounted it without the shield. Took it to the station, filled it up. Not a single drop of gas leaked out of the filler tube or anything until the very moment the pump automatically shut off (filled.) Then it started spilling out all over from the top. Based on the volume of the liquid that came out as well as the area it flowed from it seemed to be coming from middle top of the tank. Doesn't leak at all when driving so I'm pretty sure that just leaves the fuel pump seal.

I checked on autozone and wasn't able to find the seal for sale without an entire pump. I'm going to stop by the dealer tomorrow to see if they sell just the seal.

Hoping that's all it is and I don't go through that hassle to do all that work and find it still leaking.

I'll search for your write up about the pump. I appreciate the advice!

Thanks,
Bez

I would say that the next step is to get the tank out of there and see what's going on. Inspect everything and see if you can determine the overall cause of the problem.