Petrol Tank Replacement - Self Inflicted

With MOT looming I spent last Sunday doing the usual checks and repairs on my 214. The handbrake has gone from 2 clicks to 6 or 7 over the past year so I decided to remove the drums and sort the so-called "self-adjusters". Everything went well and I let down the trolley-jack feeling pleased with myself. The smugness was quickly wiped off my face when the jack slipped forward off the rear axle and slammed into the petrol tank!

Visual inspection revealed a large dent in the bottom of the tank. I thought I had got away with it until I noticed the smell of fumes coming from a slight crack in the seam. Let's just say I was a bit grumpy about that!

I found a replacement tank from a 25 on ebay for £40 and it turned up at my local Argos 2 days later in excellent condition. I had taken a look at the strap bolts and found that one of them had a chance of coming off with a 13mm deep socket but the other had been previously butchered and had no visible corners left. I ordered one online - would have ordered a pair but they were surprisingly expensive.

A few tips on tank replacement...

• Disconnect the battery earth lead - DO NOT FORGET TO DO THIS
• Syphon as much fuel out the tank as possible. Apart from being volatile (although an empty tank is possibly more dangerous) it's also very heavy.
• Get the back end up as high as you can on axle stands
• Remove the left-rear wheel and plastic wheel arch liner (at least the back end of it) I had to do violence to one or two of the screws fit new clips later. One of the screws attaches the plastic filler/breather pipe
• Inside the filler flap pop off the plastic ring around the filler cap
• Support the tank with a trolley-jack and block of wood and loosen the strap bolts until there is enough slack to lift them up and out of the keyholes. In my case I had to hacksaw one of them which was a nervous moment considering the fumes, but I was outdoors and took it easy with the saw. My concession to safety was not using the angle grinder!
• Ignore the instruction in Haynes to remove the handbrake support bracket cable bolt, it's not in the way which is just as well because it wasn't going to give up without a fight
• Lower the tank partway on the jack
• Now you have 5 pipes and an electrical connector to deal with. The big rigid plastic filler and vent pipe will wiggle out as a pair. Right beside them is a small vent pipe that pulls off. (mine snapped but was easily fixed with a bit of 8mm rubber pipe) Now disconnect the rubber pipes of the flow and return pipes. I suggest leaving them attached at the pump end and disconnecting them from the pipes that run up to the engine bay. More on them in a minute. Pop a small screwdriver under the latch on the electrical connector and pull it apart.

Swapping the pump/sender assembly was straightforward but it is a close fit and it's delicate as well as expensive. Take your time. The bottom end of the plastic cylinder needs a bit of a wiggle and then the take care with the float.

Having put it all back together I started the engine and my face once again transformed to smugness to dejection when I saw petrol flooding over the top of the tank. Time for a cuppa/sulk having put sand on the puddle of fuel.

I partially lowered the tank while leaving everything connected and got my wife to briefly crank the engine while I had a look. Fuel was gushing under pressure from the metal feed pipe that is part of the pump. The last 2 inches of both the feed and return pipes were corroded and the surgery must have been too much for them. Not wanting to spend a fortune on a new pump assembly I removed the tank and got the pump out again - drained it - and hacksawed off the last couple of inches of corroded pipe. The pipes are slightly different sizes. The feed is larger than the return. Having borrowed a car to go and get some 8mm rubber fuel pipe I discovered it was too big to seal on the smaller feed pipe so it was back to the local garage for some 6mm. They had none left so it was off to my nearest town 10 miles away! For future reference if you ever use this workaround you will need 400mm of 6mm pipe for the feed and 400mm of 8mm for the return. Secure them to the pump end and you can deal with the other end with the tank back in place.

Everything is sorted now and working well with no leaks. Lesson learned to take more care with the jack! On the other hand the old tank was in a bad way and the pump pipes were due to fail soon, probably on a dark wet night in the middle of nowhere. Just the CV boots to do now (not split yet but on an advisory from last year). If you are still here thanks for reading.

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Petrol Tank Replacement - Self Inflicted