I made the alarming discovery yesterday that gas is finding its way through the body of the sending unit when the tank is full. Not only is it stinking up my trunk, but inside the sending unit, where the rheostat and sweep arm reside, gas is sloshing around. Now up in the front of the car where spark meets gas this is a good thing, but back here? Is it normal to have gas inside the sending unit housing? Looking at the construction of this Smith beauty, I do not see how it could have ever kept gas out. Maybe the fact that it is airtight keeps it from going boom.

Driving with the unit unplugged,
Mark

Mark,

You said that "gas is stinking up my trunk". If you are getting gas fumes in the trunk that is bad and very combustible. There is one gasket on the sending unit itself and one between the sending unit and the gas tank. Check these to see if they are torn or damaged. If they are in not too bad of shape use some gas resistant gasket sealer on them. As was stated in the other post check for pinholes in the top of your tank.
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Bill 69 Triumph GT6 - 74 Triumph Spitfire - 79 chrysler Cordoba

Leaking into the trunk area is bad (often cars with wet trunks will develop rust pinholes on the top of the tank) but having the sender full of gas is no problem. The mixture inside the tank is too rich to combust. Gasoline will burn in a pretty wide range of mixtures, but there are upper and lower limits.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

Don`t worry, thats how its meant to be.

Gasoline only burns when mixed with air, as the tank is always full of pure fumes there is no danger of fire or explosion.

Most fuel injected cars have a submerged in-tank pump carrying relatively high current which use the fuel for cooling!!!

Colin.

1990 740SE B200E/M47, remote C/Locking.