Tuesday, October 07, 2014 - 12:51 pm, by: Rob Charles(Pearl_white)
Hi guys, so for the last while I've had a leaky fuel issue.
Fuel seeps out from the petrol cap area, down out the flap towards the exhaust - thus ruining paint and so on. Luckily my paint is fine as I washed the residue off each day. Other people are not so lucky.
Anyway, today I finally fixed the restrictor leak by resealing it.
I used a 2 part epoxy (radiator/petrol tank repairer) which you simply squash together (with haste being used) and the end result is like chewing gum. It sets like steel in around 3 minutes. After 2 minutes it is too hard to work with. You have a 1-2 minute window to do this job. http://i.imgur.com/rvVTYwn.jpg
So this is what I did (see pics).
1. I opened the fuel lid and inspected the restrictor. Seemed snug. Noticed a bit of silicon that was brittle. I actually had already taken it out before snapping this pic... It was 'tightly sealed' by the looks of it. (but it was not). http://i.imgur.com/8OezM9x.jpg
2. I put a screwdriver in between the restrictor and fuel filler tube - then twisted it. http://imgur.com/fGfkvSz
3. The thing actually popped right off. No resistance at all. It was obviously ready to be resealed. 1 twist and it popped off. Note how gunky and brittle the thing was. http://imgur.com/s3CauwU http://imgur.com/vyIqkPG
4. Now the interesting thing. Whoever mucked about with the filler tube before i bought the car, had actually warped the tube itself. I could not put the restrictor back in properly without wiggling/angling it strangely. http://imgur.com/H5O87Gj You can see in this picture where the bottom right of the tube is deformed. I raged as I only noticed this after I already put the epoxy on the restrictor - and it wouldn't fit back in the hole in time... (now the restrictor is sitting 1cm higher than fuel filler tube, but still sealed - we will get to that shortly).
7. The inside of the filler tube, with no restrictor. This was cleaned also. http://imgur.com/7p9Ev66
8. Roll the epoxy together into a sausage and fit it under the fuel restrictor lip.
9. Press it firmly back into the fuel filler tube.
10. Wait 2 hours at least before driving.
Note: The restrictor would not allow me to push it in the tube again due to warping of the tube somehow. I had 30 seconds before the goop set like steel. I had tried to put the restrictor in, but always had about a 1cm gap - the steel goop was setting fast. In the end, I put it the right way up, used more goop - and it is now sealed, although 1cm higher than it should be if the tube wasn't warped.
P.S. tried to upload pics to the website, but there is a 1024x limit on image size - rendering all my pics useless here. A 1024 size limit is very low.
Ben Lipman Goo Roo SA Soarer TT manual, plus TT track car, plus a spare shell
Tuesday, October 07, 2014 - 03:19 pm, by: Ben Lipman(Ben12a)
G'day Rob, sorry I didn't see you posts until now. I did this once before and it worked a treat (I used "Knead it"- sounds like what you used). I need to do it again as it has recently started to leak again. I wish I had of kept my unmolested Japanese OEM filler neck and cap from the racecar...that never leaked.
Tuesday, October 07, 2014 - 05:00 pm, by: Rob Charles(Pearl_white)
Hi Ben, this has worked great so far. I'm also trying to get my hands on an OEM filler actually. The restrictor is just an annoyance really. (although it does have a flap for splashback or what not which could come in handy)
The epoxy will be found at supercheap auto (or other car shops) for around $10.00 -
Depending how it is currently sealed, either silicon or steel epoxy, will gauge how long this job takes. Also, brittle steel epoxy may fall into the tank if it hasn't already.
If you can't get the restrictor out, simply buy a new filler neck for $50 or less from one of our members
(I had another idea that you could just silicon the top of the restrictor to the tube whilst still in the car, without removing it. No idea if this would work however.)
Sunday, December 07, 2014 - 01:27 am, by: Roland Elliott(Aussie2013)
Seems to me like at some point in history someone drove off from the servo with the bowser filler in the neck and bent the tube, hence loosening the Lead free downgrade restricter.
Tuesday, February 03, 2015 - 06:02 am, by: Tom Richards(Tomr)
yes. came in when leaded petrol was sold and the pump had a large nozzle. The small restrictor stopped leaded fuel being put in. Serves no purpose these days as leaded fuel is gone
Tuesday, February 03, 2015 - 05:00 pm, by: Roland Elliott(Aussie2013)
The restrictor was also used in America and some other countries so people would not put Leaded fuel in an unleaded car, if you put leaded fuel in it will straight away ruin the cat converters.
Peter Nitschke Junk Filterer South Australia UZZ30 UZZ31
Thursday, February 05, 2015 - 10:32 pm, by: Robert Day(Lexsmaz)
Hi Peter,
I didn't ever change the restrictor on my old Soarer, but I have seen pic's as you no doubt have & it looks like they seem to butcher & open up the original filler neck to fit the restrictor & if you don't re-use the restrictor after removing it the petrol caps doesn't fit or seal any more ..
Friday, February 06, 2015 - 11:32 am, by: Scott Vim(1uz1jz)
Some cars managed to retain factory seatbelts. Mine had Jap ones in it. What are the compliance seatbelts like? Can't quite understand why they are good enough for Japan and NSW but deemed unsafe for Victoria? Sounds like a lot red tape made up by wankers.
Friday, February 06, 2015 - 11:35 pm, by: Robert Day(Lexsmaz)
Seems they came to their senses about leaving the factory seat Jap belts in from around 93 - 94 onwards ..
As you said Scott its absolute Bullshit in my eyes that they even changed them in the first place !! surely they don't crash any different over there !! I didn't realise NSW didn't replace the early belts for compliance & if that's the case that's even more •••••• up that its ok for them but not us ..
Some Jap cars I have heard they even change all the rubber brake Hoses, to good old Aussie spec ones ( which are probably inferior to start with !! )
Monday, April 13, 2015 - 06:13 pm, by: Rob Charles(Pearl_white)
Victoria is a load of Sh!t seriously. The biggest nanny state of them all. More speed cameras than any other state in Australia I believe. So many road laws here it is incredible. Can't even legally have a blower sticking out of the car anymore.
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