'69 leaking gas at sending unit
 

Hello all. Just the other day I decided to fill the gas tank up because it had been siting in my garage with a 1/4 tank for a few weeks. The next day I discovered that my gas had just started leaking out from above the spare tire holder. I knew it had to be the sending unit. After removing the spare I noticed that it was in fact leaking from the sending unit. If I play with the nozzle it starts to leak a lot more. It seams to me like it was a little lose. I then drained the tank and checked the retaining ring. I was able to remove it without any tools telling me that that was the source of my leaking issue. After removing the unit, I inspected the rubber sending unit gasket. It looked fine to me which was no surprise because the entire unit was replaced about 4 years ago. Any ideas as to why it would be loose at this point? I'm ordering a new gasket but I'm worried the same thing is going to end up happening.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c8181b566e.jpg

Had the same thing happen to me recently...ended up tightening it and the leak stopped. Some possible ideas...vibration, ethanol gas affecting the gasket or original install not fully tight. I will also be interested in any other ideas.

Redvette2

The retaining ring was as tight as it could go. It slips into place and you just turn it like a 1/2" and it locks in place. It was in that locked position but it felt like if the gasket itself should have been make thicker. Had it been thicker I feel it would have pushed more on the retaining ring, thus forming a tighter seal. Unless it just shrinks in time I don't see how it never leaked before. Has anyone else had these replacement ring gaskets go bad so quickly?

I have ! From brand new (O ring) I too had it rotated as tight as it went . What I noticed is that as it turned, it went a little off centre as well( the sender unit ) , I ended up using a screw driver to tap it back to central position which stopped the leak for me.

Thanks bazza77. I'll be sure to look for this happening when I go to put my new one in.

When I replaced my tank I also replaced the sending unit. Both parts came with the O ring but there was a minor difference in the thickness of the O ring. I went with the thicker ring that came with the tank.

See. This is exactly what I was worried about. Companies making different thickness O-rings.