Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

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Autovilla007
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Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

A few days after taking delivery of a 1981 Autovilla, I went to the petrol station to fill up. Shock and horror to find petrol coming like a waterfall off the back of the tank. :cry:
Today I removed the tank and have found lots of worn through breather pipes and other issues. But with the volume of petrol coming out I think it could only have come from a bad seal around the fuel guage sender unit or the worn seal where the filler pipe goes in.
The fuel gauge had not been working and, after removing it, it seems like it is no longer serviceable. Now I'm hoping someone here can point me in the right direction to get the following replacement parts.
1 x Sender unit with rubber seal
3 x rubber seals where the breather pipes enter the tank
2 x seals where the float valves go into the expansion bottles.
Another critical question, there are no less than 4 breather pipes on this tank and two expansion tanks. Surely this is overkill? Could I use T pieces, connect the breathers in 1 or two pipes and just one expansion tank? Not even sure just how critical these tanks are in the first place.
Any advice or references for where I might find parts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


Autovilla007
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

Sorry, trying to post images of parts but not going through
Autovilla007
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

Fuel sender
Image
Autovilla007
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

Breather seals
Image
Filler pipe seal

Image

Tank
Image

Fuel Sender

Image
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sean
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by sean »

These parts are best ordered online from places like VW Heritage or Just Kampers.

Some parts can be found locally, but I’ve found it easier to just order them all together.

Leaking T3 fuel tanks is a common problem.

It appears your sender looks quite rusty. You must have the tank properly cleaned and prepared before carrying on.
Autovilla007
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

Thanks Sean
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Bugger »

Yip those T3 fueltank parts are VHTF
And when you do they are worse than the ones you got

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Autovilla007
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Re: Fuel tank woes - 1981 Autovilla

Post by Autovilla007 »

:lol: Ha. That would be really funny if it wasn't so true and hurt so much.
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