[Drifte]

Ran my 04 forester for 300miles on one tank. After filling up at the gas station and stopping at autozone, my friend with me looks back and notices a trail of spots on the ground. I go back and sure enough Im leaking fuel. I dont add fuel after the pump clicks off either. So i took it straight home and looked all over. I cant see any leaks but the fumes of gasoline are very strong. Any time I come to a stop and go again I can smell fuel, even when the tank is basically empty with the gas light on (which happens often now since I've been avoiding filling it all the way up).

I have it up in the air right now and I am COMPLETELY not interested in dropping that tank, really!?! You have to remove the entire rear subframe it appears! Their are so many lines and gadgets emissions related or what have you back their I dont even know where to begin. Is their anything specific I should look for, and is their some trick to dropping the tank without removing the rear subframe or all of the rear diff too?


...yey 3 day weekend:icon_rolleyes:

 

[MudRunner]

First thing I would do is check the 'soft' fuel lines on top of the tank... you have to remove the rear seat bottom I believe to get to the access hatch. Here's a pic from Bobby's journal.

 

[Drifte]

Yes thanks, I did check that and Upon opening had a strong smell of fuel fumes. However I couldnt see any leaks. From underneath the car it was clear the leak came from somewhere near up their though. I may put it back on the ground and go fill it all the way up and see if I can recreate the incident. However I couldn't before, it seemed it was a load based issue, meaning maybe fuel pressure cause the leak. Which if thats true, that sucks a lot, but I at least have lost some variables.

 

[craigbhp]

You don't have to take the diff or frame out but you do need the muffler and the drive shaft out. You can drop the frame low enough to reach the top of the tank. If you do drop the tank down take a good look at the fuel cut valves. This will not be easy to do without a lift and the right tools.

 

[Real Lyte]

Yes thanks, I did check that and Upon opening had a strong smell of fuel fumes. However I couldnt see any leaks. From underneath the car it was clear the leak came from somewhere near up their though. I may put it back on the ground and go fill it all the way up and see if I can recreate the incident. However I couldn't before, it seemed it was a load based issue, meaning maybe fuel pressure cause the leak. Which if thats true, that sucks a lot, but I at least have lost some variables.

I'm not sure about the SG or if you guys have corrosion, but it is common for the SF to rust through the metal lines that come out of the frame just below the driver side rear door. All three of mine rotted pin holes simultaneously.

 

[lecoq]

^^what have you done to fix them??

 

[TC2000]

Check your fuel filler tube the neighbor just replaced that on his 2000 Imprezza with 260k miles. It was rotted threw in more then one place.

 

[Real Lyte]

^^what have you done to fix them??

I did kind of a ghetto fix but it has worked wonderfully, I didn't want to replace the whole line assembly. I used Gas tank epoxy, over that I put fiberglass, then over that several hose clamps per line. Before all of that I sanded the lines down to metal and coated them in the rust reformer stuff too as a prep.

Check your fuel filler tube the neighbor just replaced that on his 2000 Imprezza with 260k miles. It was rotted threw in more then one place.

I had that rot out too lol.

 

[Golden]

I can't be of any help, other than to let you know I have the same problem with my 2003 Forester. The tank sits on both sides of the drive train -- looks like a LOT of work to replace it. My mechanic thinks it cannot be patched/welded. I'm awaiting an estimate. Two major shops in town won't even tackle the job.