Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

I need some advise before I get my indi involved in fixing a fuel tank leak - and possibly fix it myself.

The problem is I cant see where the leak is but perhaps my symptoms can guide me to the problem before I take anything apart.

The problem started in the Richtersveld after a day of extremely bad roads and tracks. What I CAN see is the tank is not punctured at the bottom and the fuel is spilling from the front of the tank somewhere near the top.

When filling up there is quite a lot of gushing of fuel, but only when nearly full.

The leak is marginal when the tank is nearly empty, but it starts leaking again when the vehicle has been driving for a while.

Less leakage with the vehicle in a nose-up attitude.

My thinking is that the fuel return hose has come off, but to fix this I need to remove my packing system which is a major ball-ache.

What does the fuel return hose do (other than returning fuel to the tank) and why would there be excess fuel outside of the tank that needs to be returned.

Ideas?

So it turns out the fuel tank was cracked. The fuel tank protection had pushed into the tank itself right at the bottom

I was lucky I didn't lose all my fuel in the Richtersveld

Time for proper protection at the back methinks

SimonB wrote:Time for proper protection at the back methinks

Have you been doing time in the sand?? (atlantis dunes?) Maybe weakened prior to your trip, and then a small bump was the final straw?

Gemaskerde Tuinvurk wrote:
Have you been doing time in the sand?? (atlantis dunes?) Maybe weakened prior to your trip, and then a small bump was the final straw?

Naah I doubt it's the sand (but yes, I have done a lot of it). To be fair poor Pumbaa has taken a severe beating underneath and fuel tank protection just never seems to be high on 4x4 accessory manufacturers list of priorities