Is Fuel Filler Assembly A Single Unit?

[ShamblesX]

Morning

The wife reported strong petrol smell recently when she fills her 1997 RAV4 2.0L "Edge" 3-door.

Went with her early this morning and saw it for myself. Fuel leaking during refill, no matter at what angle I held the nozzle. Not an enormous amount, but enough to be concerned.

So, I need to know if the filler pipe to the tank is a single unit, or whether there is a coupling of some sort that might be loose.

Saw a thread from 2007 by Johnmerc here that confused me, but might be relevant.

Wifey has taken the car to work so I can't check anything right away, but I noticed the filler surround has a black plastic cover with 4 small philips screws. Is there anything worth looking at if I remove it?

Cheers for any replies

[anchorman]

Morning

The wife reported strong petrol smell recently when she fills her 1997 RAV4 2.0L "Edge" 3-door.

Went with her early this morning and saw it for myself. Fuel leaking during refill, no matter at what angle I held the nozzle. Not an enormous amount, but enough to be concerned.

So, I need to know if the filler pipe to the tank is a single unit, or whether there is a coupling of some sort that might be loose.

Saw a thread from 2007 by Johnmerc here that confused me, but might be relevant.

Wifey has taken the car to work so I can't check anything right away, but I noticed the filler surround has a black plastic cover with 4 small philips screws. Is there anything worth looking at if I remove it?

Cheers for any replies

Welcome to the club.

It is relevant, bothy is quite an expert on 4.1s and has commented several times before that the filler pipes can corrode through. He will be sleeping in a vat of whiskey at the moment but when he surfaces he will no doubt elaborate.

[ShamblesX]

Welcome to the club.

It is relevant, bothy is quite an expert on 4.1s and has commented several times before that the filler pipes can corrode through. He will be sleeping in a vat of whiskey at the moment but when he surfaces he will no doubt elaborate.

Thanks for the reply. I wait in eager anticipation of being told to expect a huge repair bill

[anchorman]

A lot depends on how much you can do yourself.

[bothwell_buyer]

haha

After a few Speyside malts straight without lemonade , water or ice, last night, I was in bed for 10.30pm and awoke at 8.30am - showered then onto clear my emails and this was the last.....

Here goes..>

The filler bit at the top comes out quite easily - however I don't think thats where your trouble will be. If you jack the rear of the car up - ideally with a decent jack or/and use an axle stand, remove the rear nearside wheel. Then you will see and have easy access to the plastic channeling which covers the petrol filler pipe - going from the filler cap down to the tank. Running alongside this is the smaller diameter breather tube also going down to the tank from the filler cap unit.

First, have a look at the connection up inside the wheel arch going onto the petrol filler bit. However I bet that the breather pipe is corroded and thats where the petrol smell and leakage is happening...

Take the plastic channeling off- try some wd40 or the likes first on the fixings. From memory, I think theres 4 or 5 fixings. Once this is off, you can inspect the petrol filler and breather pipe. Mine was covered in mud and muck and I had to clean the piupes off before I saw the corroded breather pipe. The filler pipe was well corroded half way down as well.

At this, I had the option of paying a fair bit for new Toyota parts - I chose to replace both pipes by piecing in reinforced petrol plastic tubing. I bought hose for the breather from D-tweeks and I bought larger diameter plastic hose suitable for petrol from a local branch of a national hose supply company. As I found out, I could have bought all the hose from them cheaper. And it was cheap.

The larger diameter hose I had to shape to fit.... what I did was to clean off the original corroded large diameter filler pipe (which didn't leak ) then I slid the new plastic hose over it by heating the hose to soften the plastic. I used jubilee clips.

On the breather, this pipe was so far gone that I replaced it all with reinforced plastic hose. You need to make sure you get hose suitable for petrol.

I also had to replace the petrol tank as it had been damaged by someone using it to jack the car up. I got a secondhand tank which I cleaned and painted, then took the opportunity to install more new pipe. Changing the tank is a bigger job - not hard tho.

The plastic 'guard' in the wheelarch is not sealed to the arch hence the ingress of muck/salt/water.

A tip before you start would be to hose down/pressure wash inside the wheel arch to remove muck and make the job a bit cleaner.

The cost of the filler pipes repair??? Less than £30.

[ShamblesX]

Here goes..>

Well what can I say :o

Thanks very much for the comprehensive reply.

In my younger days I would have been out there in a jiffy following your instructions, then claiming full credit from the wife for finding and fixing :P

These days, what you suggest sounds like a lot of messing and I no longer have the confidence. However, I shall remove the wheel tomorrow, clean the sh*te out, and see what's what.

Much appreciated.

Steve B)

[bothwell_buyer]

Good luck. After a good clean, you will be able to see whats what.

I should have added that I am not so young; even less physically fit; and my body is unable to conform to what the brain tells it.

But the petrol pipe replacement wasn't too taxing. I did however have the use of another car so wasn't dependant on having to do the work same day. However- it can be done same day.

[ShamblesX]

Good luck. After a good clean, you will be able to see whats what.

I chickened out and decided to let someone else see what's what ;)

Yep. Chickened out big style. Part-Ex'd it today against a 2003 NRG VVTi. Must check out the rest of the forum to see what to expect of this RAV4

Once again, thanks for the contributions, and sorry I didn't go through with the fixes.

[ahab]

bothwell_buyer

"...I bought larger diameter plastic hose suitable for petrol from a local branch of a national hose supply company. "

Where did you buy the petrol resistant hose from? Most companies make you buy huge lengths.

Thanks, G.

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

15 minutes ago, ahab said:

bothwell_buyer

"...I bought larger diameter plastic hose suitable for petrol from a local branch of a national hose supply company. "

Where did you buy the petrol resistant hose from? Most companies make you buy huge lengths.

Thanks, G.

Bear in mind the post was over 9 years ago ....

[yossarian247]

A search of eBay shows over 30000 listings for petrol hose of various diameters and lengths.