I have had a leak in my gas tank area for a while. Usually I just smell gas back there. when i first got the jeep i went to fill up and topped off the **** out of it to round to the next dollar, and gas literally poured down the front of the tank, but, only when it was running and only that time was it that bad.

Is there any common gas tank leaks on the xj's?

Im also showing an evap code.

 

I had a leak in my tank. Somehow the gasket that sealed the pump to the tank had fallen into the tank(dont ask me how). You might want to check there.

 

Had the seal for the fuel pump slip out of place on mine recently and it would leak if I filled it up over 1/2 tank. Got a new seal that also came with a new lock ring and no more leak.

 

The PO on my jeep screwed the subwoofer straight into the gas tank, so when I removed the woofer to move some stuff it smelled like a gas station for a week... I just dropped the tank and put on some epoxy putty for gas tanks... took me 3 hours to do, but half the time was spent changing the oil, eating, and drinking while the epoxy set.

make sure to drive most of the gas out of the tank (mine was even with the e line and still had about 2 or 3 gals in it, thats 20 to 30 pounds), and remember that pb-blaster and airtools are your friends.

 

Sounds like the seal for the sending unit if its leaking down the front. There also 2 small vapor lines that are mounted in grommets on top of the tank, but if those are leaking its usually not enough to see gas only smell it.

 

I remember seeing a post where a guy took out a storage unit from the back of his xj and could smell gas. He found out a large screw had gone into his gas tank, so he just put it back and considered it problem solved

 

And how would one go about dropping the tank? Is there an acceptable amount of gas to leave in the tank?

 

On mine (a '95) I had to remove a protection panel that covers the filler hose, remove the filler hose from the filler, and then there are 2 nuts that are holding 2 straps (on the front side of the tank). once the straps are loose the tank will fall on your chest. They wanted some pb blaster and an impact wrench.

Leave as little gas a possible in the tank, its around 8 pounds per gallon, and that adds up fast when you're laying under the jeep. Mine was at E and still felt like it had at least 2 or 3 gallons left in it. I have heard some say drive it until you're really low, park it, and idle it until it stalls. A jack might help for reinstallation.

 

There is no need to drop the tank just to replace the fuel pump or the seal. Put the raer of the Jeep on jackstands and let the rear suspension droop. This should allow for more clearance to access everything.