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weeping fuel hoses

5K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  galaxyflier 
#1 ·
I have a 1980 320 that leaks fuel but only when the tank is full. I've read enough to know this is most likely due to old dry rotted fuel hoses at the top of the tank. My questions are many and born out of pure ignorance...Do I have to drop the tank in order to fix this, and if so do I need to drop both tanks...and how difficult of a job is this for a novice resto guy like me? Any help you guys can give me on this will be greatly appreciated
Scott
 
#5 ·
thanx. I was hoping I wasn't the only one with this problem. It isn't killing me, but it is a pain in the rear to have the problem. I heard the fix can be rather intense if you have to end up dropping the tanks. I'm sitting on double "E" right now just in case that's the route I have to take.
 
#7 ·
The small fuel tank access cover under the rear seat gave me all the access I needed to get at the hoses, etc. However, the _real_ problem causing the stink when the tank was full in my '77 e21 was that the nylon 'y' fitting at this location was cracked. Being no lover of plastic, I replaced it with a new one fabricated by silver soldering copper tubing.
 
#9 ·
I just did mine, I was surprise how easy it is to replace those fuel line you just have to remove the back seat, and remove access cover cut the clamp then disconect all the plug in connection to have better access. after all this jack up the car on the left rear passenger
pasenger side of the car to access the high preasure fuel pump caution! fuel will be dicharge so have a rag handy and wear safety glasses once the line is un done from the fuel pump end cut a couple of zip tie.and there you have it. let me know how it goes .
 
#11 ·
Make sure when you are replacing these that you check the line from the in-tank pump to the external pump and accumulator. They are cloth braided as original. Mine looked fine, but when I touched it, it was all wet. My wavering idle issue went away and the car has run much better too...
Hope your issue is resolved by now!
Tim
 
#13 · (Edited)
I had trouble finding the larger sized hoses for the vent line that goes from under the back seat to the filler tube. I finally found what I needed at West Marine. They have all kinds of fuel-safe rubber hose in many sizes. There is also a vent hose that goes from the right-hand tank to the left-hand tank. For that one, I had to drop the left tank. Wasn't difficult at all. I ran the car until the light came on in the fuel gauge. The left tank is held in by 3 or 4 bolts. Also have to disconnect the crossover pipe on the bottom. I just unbolted it, dropped it on the ground, replaced the hose, and put the tank right back up. Took 20 minutes.
 
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