1998 Venture leaking fuel

What specifically did they do?

Are you saying the leak is NOT from the tank itself? How much is it leaking?

I think the item your looking at is the EVAP canister. It was underneath on the 98-00 Ventures. If so what you are seeing could be related to it sitting for a while. With the nose down the vent on top of the tank may have leaked a bit and allowed fuel into the EVAP can. I would start it and run it a bit then turn it around and see if it still leaks.

Brakes, brake lines, suspension.

Not from tank - not a lot.

Started it, ran it a bit (not enough yet to clear the canister I presume), parked it t'other way round, leaked a tad more then stopped leaking.

I opened the tank at the filler cap and it "glug-glugged" a bit as it sorted out the pressure differential, whatever.

Thanks for your help.

I had filled it with fuel months before, when I first parked it, and possibly the unusually warm weather the past few days pushed some fuel back up the filler high enough to reach the vent line(?) going to the evap can - dunno? Probably took a coupla days from first turning it around ass-high to leak enough to fill the can, or maybe that was the first really warm day a few days after I turned it - also dunno?

I also just remembered that I started it and ran it in place for a few minutes maybe just the weekend or day before the leak happened. Maybe that somehow triggered the sequence of events that led to the leak.

Would there be anything I have to repair there now, or was it just a set of unique circumstances not to be repeated that caused the leak?

That was probably the gas shifting in the tank.

Wouldn't need to get to the filler vent. There are two vents on the tank that remove air from the trapped areas where sections of the tank are higher. They have small valves that float with the gas and shut off when the air is gone, could be simply that a small chunk of crud allowed one to seep a bit. Plus if the temperatures rose during those days that could have caused pressure in the tank that forced the fuel through the valve. Hard to say.

Well I would guess it was a fluke.

If the gas is that old I would dump in some new gas ASAP. This new "gas" doesn't like sitting around, it has a nasty habit of separating the alcohol and gas and causing problems. We just replaced a couple of the portable pumps we have due to damage from the alcohol separation.

Didn't know that. Used to be if a vehicle was going to sit for a while, especially in winter, you'd top it up to keep condensation inside the tank minimal. Now I guess you'd want to keep it low to minimise this "separation" damage, huh?

Also - if you know it's going to sit a while, best put some StaBil? in. Cars don't seem to be quite so sensitive as small engines (lawnmowers, chain saws, etc.) to olde gas.

Alcohol separates because of condensation of water in the fuel tank. The basic issue has not changed. Store it full of fuel to keep water- laden air from entering the tank and being absorbed into the alcohol. Fuel additives can help.

Now, once you have alcohol separation, it can be hard to get it back in solution. Some surfactant packages can do it, but it is often better to drain the tank and start over.

Works on a small scale. The schools tank is 1000 gallons mounted underground. They are now having the company add in a chemical that assists with keeping them blended.

Now we rotate the stock more often by dumping the carry cans into the rigs that run a lot, and the plow/brush truck.