Well, I had a rude awakening this past week. I smelled an unusually strong fuel smell in the garage. At first I thought it must be one of the mowers, maybe the string trimmer, blower, fuel cans??? but in the back of my mind I remember the Fuel Cell leak discussions back in '03 and '05 on this R-Forum on some 95R's, and if I remember right, some 00R's were also leaking. <<<The 95R(s) being about 8 years old at that time and the 00R's being only 3+. I thought to myself, it can't be leaking, my 95R has less than 1000 original miles. WRONG, it is the 95R, the weep hole on the bottom right front of the fuel cell has an occassional drip, not a steady drip, but as one website called it, a "slow seep". The picture below is after three days. Myself being from the vintage car world have had to occassionally deal with a rust hole in a fuel tank but I "assumed" that all of that fuel tank deterioration stuff was in the past with a rubber lined fuel cell, wrong again, well not completely wrong, rust is not the issue. The issue is the average life according to Fuel Safe, of the cells rubber bladder and foam. I was told directly by them that I was doing very well at 12 years old as the life expectancy is 8 years for the fuel cell rubber and foam. I thought I'd ask about a price for the parts to make my cell safe again, $500, maybe $600 I guessed, wrong again, $1424 list price for the parts, and those can only be purchased through a authorized Fuel Safe dealer, OUCH!! I thought to myself, what if the 00R was also leaking, it is getting very close to its life expectancy of 8 years old. I contacted a couple of the members on this forum that I know have experience with this issue and they gave tips and advise, and I thank each of them. I also felt that since my car only has 1/4 tank that the fuel cell removal would not be "heavy". <<<I was given a tip by the fuel cell rep., he said don't assume that the cell is light, very often by the time the cell actually weeps, some, or much of the foam has become saturated with fuel, so even though I see 1/4 on the gauge, there could be 7 or more gallons obsorbed in the foam during the time that the cell has leaked internally in addition to the 1/4 tank, so never assume it is light, you could quickly get hurt and who wants to drop their fuel cell because it "gets away" on the jack.
Anyway, I am going to get the car up this week and start the removal process.
Mark Wilson, on this forum is a Fuel Safe dealer. He and I are working together on this. As things progress, there will be more to come........
One thing that the Fuel Safe rep. said sticks in my mind ...."When a fuel cell reaches approx. 8 years old start paying attention to it, it is not a matter of "if", but instead "when" it will begin to leak. He also said it does not matter if you drive that car, store the car, race the car, keep a full tank, or low fuel in the tank, it is the rubber that deteriorates and age is the only factor.
As I type this, time is ticking and the fuel cells are deteriorating, tick, tick, tick. Isn't that a nice thought, especially if you own a couple, or maybe even more of these cars!?!?
R
Anyway, I am going to get the car up this week and start the removal process.
Mark Wilson, on this forum is a Fuel Safe dealer. He and I are working together on this. As things progress, there will be more to come........
One thing that the Fuel Safe rep. said sticks in my mind ...."When a fuel cell reaches approx. 8 years old start paying attention to it, it is not a matter of "if", but instead "when" it will begin to leak. He also said it does not matter if you drive that car, store the car, race the car, keep a full tank, or low fuel in the tank, it is the rubber that deteriorates and age is the only factor.
As I type this, time is ticking and the fuel cells are deteriorating, tick, tick, tick. Isn't that a nice thought, especially if you own a couple, or maybe even more of these cars!?!?
R
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