My gas tank has started leaking on the Crown Vic. How difficult of a job is this? Is it possible to get the tank off without a torch? I have no torch available. I have tried already and it seems as if the bolts are stuck on for life. This is a 88 Crown Vic. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

a tip i have seen before is to start spraying the bolts with PB Blaster everyday for like a week. then when you go to take it off the straps come off real easy. the tank comes out fairly easy from what gmgt tells me. he has done it a few times. make sure its as empty as you can get it...otherwise gas sloshes everywhere. depending on where the leak is its best to put in a new tank.

i did this about 2 weeks ago on my car. when we undid the tank bolts we used an air gun, which made life way easy. it removed the entire stud...which is held in by a clip thing on the top. i dont know if the nut even comes off...but mine was rusted pretty bad...and i did use PB Blaster on them.

GMGT gave me some advice, which i did not heed until later, by luck. as soon as you remove the stud/bolts go to the hardware store and buy ones LONGER. you will most likely not be able to get the bolts back in after you swap tanks. thanksfully my brother had some spare bolts laying around from GM that fit.

Roadman, is your fuel pump original? you may want to change it while the tank is down. it adds another $130 to the cost, but you have to disconnect all the fuel lines (1 driver side, 2 passenger) pull the filler neck out, and disconnect the fuel pump electric plug just to drop the tank, so it'd be wise to put a new pump in.

if anyone needs new fuel tanks, Interstate 55 Auto Salave in Illinois (Joliet-area) has them on the shelf. that's where i got mine.

~AOD

oh and a blow torch near a fuel cell is almost always a bad idea...especially when said fuel cell has a leak...sounds like advice we would give to LawnMowerMan

this is very easy, I swapped tanks from my old Cv to the new one..
getting the bolts out is easy, turn em till they come out.. when you get them out, if you get the stud and the nut, take the nut off and put hte stud in before you get the tank up, it's easier to put the nuts on instead of trying to push the straps up high enuff to get the bolt started.

not sure if this made any since at all.. but it's an easy job

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http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/7/web/511000-511999/511815_107_full.jpg

I left 6-7 gallons in my tank, it wasn't bad. Just bring it down slowly and put it behind your head. Like skull crushers. LOL
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My bolts just snapped even after PB Blaster, That's just an old car for you. I suggest buying new stainless steel bolts with the lock nut. I had to purchase one time lock nuts, that's all they carried. Oh well I won't be taking it out any time soon...I hope. They're not expensive.

AOD, those notches make it easy as cake to put the tank back in.

air tools make it even easier.

i pounded the crap out of the top of the tank too...bending the lip over to help it fit up in the tank area better. i think we had some clearance, Clarence, issues.

~AOD

Where's the leak?

I used gas tank repair epoxy on a pinhole in mine ~2 years ago and it's still good. Just run the tank almost empty, jack up the car to make any remaining gas slosh away from the hole, and smear it on.

kevin

no offense, but your Flordia tank probably looks nothing like our northern tanks...which are completely rusted on the bottom. i had no leaks in mine, but when i started cleaning some rust i found about 10 pinhole leaks...

Real men don't use air tools...All I have is a breaker bar. The rest is all up to the rachet and the wrists.

Can't repair a leak on the seam. Not unless you clean the tank and weld.

i use air tools at work all the time.. so what?

go ahead and break bolts with your breaker bar... hell the name tells it all... "breaker bar"

Hacksaw.

Tom's on his honeymoon and Mower's been on here off and on.