Fuel pump nightmare ends, now...

[shobikes]

...the stupid tank o-ring ain't sealing!

In a nutshell: installed my Walbro 190 today. I had no help, but at least only 2 gallons left in the tank. I got the tank down, but it slid off the jack and broke the outlet quick-disconnect right off its hose eek! . So I finished pulling the tank from under the car and noticed I have had significant fuel leak at the tank sealing ring for who knows how long - the plastic 4-wire connector crumbled to rubbery dust when I touched it eek! eek! . SO I pulled the tank unit out, installed the new pump, and noticed the in-tank red rubber return line end fitting was torn (what does that thing do??!?).

Dammit! I said. The parts car was tucked waaay into a corner where I couldn't jack it up or drop its tank, so I started cutting an access panel beneath the rear seat. I only had one cutoff wheel, and burned it up before completing the cuts, so I drilled a couple hundred 1/8" holes to perforate it sufficiently to gain access. I managed to get the tank unit out of that car, and salvaged the outlet line as well (Short one, that goes right into the filter), and got the wires out of the 4-pin connector shell so I could use it on my car.

Anyhoo, it all went back together well, and I don't think I broke anything else. The tank unit seated on the o-ring, and the locking ring seated fully under all the tabs. I was very cautious to keep the tank on the jack and not connect anything until the tank was wedged above the exhaust pipe. Car starts, so I drive it to the gas station and fill 'er up...

When I got home, I parked nose-down on an incline, and damn if the stupid thing's not just DRIPPING steady on the driveway. Now I have a full tank of gas and a new pump, but the stupid thing's leaking worse than ever! Any ideas? I don't really want to use RTV or any gasket stuff on an o-ring. Should I grease it? What have y'all done in this case?

 

[Rockledge]

The grease on the 0-ring is to hold it in place (in the groove) during assembly.

How did the area look where the pump mounts on the tank? Was it nice and flat?

Did you make sure that all tabs on the locking ring were underneath the fuel tank tabs before you twisted it and locked it into place? Sometimes keeping all the tabs aligned properly can be tricky when you first start twisting (tightening) the locking ring.

I just saw a post where someone suggested bending down the fuel tank tabs in order to force a tighter seal...sounds worthy of consideration, as well.

Finally, are you sure it's the FP/tank seal that's leaking? Or maybe the Vapor Valve or one of its associated hoses popped loose during install...? shrug

 

[SHO_Driver]

Yeah, that was me suggesting bending in the tabs some more. I noticed that the O ring in the Walbro kit was slightly larger than the OEM the first time it leaked. So the second time around I reinstalled the OEM seal but it still leaked. The third time I pushed in the tabs some more and finally no more leaks. Boy was I glad that I'd cut that access door the first time instead of dropping my tank 3 times.

 

[SHOSIG]

I had an o-ring that leaked also, had a very small cut in it, slow leak but it was there. Installed new ring, problem solved. One thing I learned is before completly reinstalling a fuel tank, hook everything up and cycle the fuel pump a couple of times to make sure the thing works and does not leak from the hoses.