Petrol tank capacity - please read and respond everyone!

[Tezzah]

Quick question for the esteemed users of this forum

Has anyone heard that you should fill a petrol tank up too much?

A friend of mine filled theirs up and it's been towed away to have what's left in the tank emptied and the van checked to ensure all fuel pipes etc are ok and not persihed as his van started dripping (quite heavily to the point it was a small stream) pertol all over the floor of his driveway.

The petrol pump did it's job and clicked off when it filled by all accounts and the leak only happened after he filled it.

The previous owner alleges that you shoudld never fill the tanks up to full (what?????) after also alleging that they told my friend not to fill it up shortly after they purchased the van from them.

I smell something fishy, or petrolly even but stand to be corrected?

Is this something anyone else has heard of, a large group view would be most welcome.

 

[Haveacamper]

the only reason why people say you shouldnt fill it up too much is because these buses are still on the road after 30+ years and the flexible hoses have perished. even VW probably didnt design the hoses to last this long so these need to be replaced.

i used to get a bad smell when i filled right up and it was my breather hoses perished so i replaced all flexible hoses and clips. the smell disappeared!

goign back to the thread, i've never been told that you shoudl stop fillin git before the click of the petrol pump, just not to try and get as much as possible into the tank

NaFe

 

[Tezzah]

Cheers Hava, mine does that, if i fill it to full it smells of petrol but goes once the petrol gets below the full mark. I just can't say i've ever heard not to fill them unless you know there's a fault with your van. :?:

 

[Haveacamper]

my only justification for them saying that is that, although the rubber should be able to handle it, constant splashing of fuel onto the rubber will inevitably degrade it and increase its rate to failure.

 

[ronmidg]

Cant say I've ever brimmed the tank but always fill to first click and not noticed any problems.

 

[Araon]

Its only an issue if the filler neck has perished slighly and allows the fuel to seep through otherwise no real issues theres breathing space in the tank and you have your vents a few miles and its depleted anyway....

 

[froggy]

The only reason i can think of is (on mine anyway) the fuel tank breather is open to atmosphere so theorectically if you continued to over fill after the pump has clicked you could fill up the breather pipework aswell and will eventually overflow

 

[ed.]

never heard of this, allways fill mine up till the pump clicks (if i have the cash)

 

[Tezzah]

Turns out that a bolt/screw holding the rock n roll bed punctured the fuel tank................. :lol:

 

[strongy]

never mind old cars my e91 bmw cant be filled up as the overflow pipes have rubbed thru and it pissed a litre of diesel all over the rear wheel if ya fill it :shock: :roll: really need to get that sorted

 

[67panel]

not seen that before(does sarcasm work on here?) got a late bay tank with 4 self tapper holes 2/3rds of the way up :shock: tank is close to rear panel in load bay

 

[Tezzah]

Maybe it was a fecking big screw lol...............