Aaargh! I replaced my front inner and outer tie rods this morning, Iowa now being warm enough to do this, and in so doing jacked the front of the car in the air. I soon noticed the smell of gasoline coming from the rear and saw a leak on the floor. After I opened up the access hatch to the fuel tank top, I found that the sender assembly had rusted and was leaking when the tank was full and sloshing or the car tilted up at the front. This cannot be fixed: it has to be replaced, at a cost of about $500 when you throw hoses and rusted clamps in.

To prevent this, consider rustproofing your fuel sender top if you live in the rust belt or you open up the hatch to replace a pre-pump or in-tank hose. I will definitely POR-15 my new unit, and spray it with 3M rustproof. The design and location is such that it will almost certainly rust without any protection. Clean off the sender top with brake cleaner and remove all the old factory rustproof. Using a small wire brush, carefully remove loose rust from the top WITHOUT touching the wire connections, which are fragile. The apply POR-15. When this is dry, apply the 3M spray and reinstall in the tank.
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