Fuel leak at gas tank and vapor separator

I noticed a strong odor of gas near the rear of my car. There was also leaking fuel on to the driver side muffler. I found a vapor hose running to a small square plastic valve. I think this is the fuel vapor separator. Can this valve fail and leak fuel or is this leak caused by the vapor hose? Also the leak appeared after I filled the fuel tank full. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

More likely you put too much fuel in the tank. As the fuel warms it expands and will force it out. It not hard to overfill.

Ken Styer

I thought my tank was bad, because the smell of gas was really bad especially after driving or filling up. I also noticed it leaking. But when I dropped the tank, the tank looked new, it turns out that the rubber lines on top of the tank were leaking. I cut them back a little, re-attached them, and no more gas fumes or leaks.

|UPDATED|4/9/2004 4:16:57 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

I had the same problem with my 72, in my case it was a bad hose,all the fuel seperator is is a check valve to keep fuel from running to the charcoal canister when the tank is full and the level of fuel is right at the vapor pickup line. The seperator can go bad in two ways, if the check valve gets gumed up inside it will not hold, or if the plastic housing cracks. To check for cracks turn the serpr.right side up and blow into the 3/8's side while holding
your finger over the 5/16's side, should be air tight,sometimes they leak where the two halfs are bonded together, to check the valve turn it upside down and just blow into the 3/8's side, 5/16's side open, again it should be air tight.

Thanks for the input. I checked out the separater and there was indeed a crack in it. I used epoxy sealer to temporarily repair until new one comes in.