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This was going on during finals week so I was having to rap up some projects and other stuff and I was getting home very late. I got home around 3 am Friday night/Saturday morning, ate a snack and about an hour later I started to smell, very slightly, some gasoline fumes. However, I had a cold so my nose was very congested. I woke up the next morning to the very distinct smell of gasoline throughout my house and found a big puddle of fuel under my car.
If you look at the pictures, the crack formed on the passenger side, to the left and parallel to the strap right near the pin. The crack also passed through the seam of the tank which runs parallel to the ground. I had to siphon out basically all of the fuel on the passenger side of the tank, before fuel stopped dripping on my floor. At the time the fuel gauge read about 1/2 of a tank, and I siphoned out ~4-5 gallons. Later, after the tank was out of the car, I emptied another five gallons which must have been sitting on the drive side of the tank.
I'm not sure how else to describe this. The crack was certainly low enough that this wasn't an issue that only occurred with a full tank. The tank basically has to be emptied before fuel stops leaking.
I do not know how long I had been leaking fuel since I'm usually parked on the street. However, I had not noticed unusually low gas mileage, my gauge was reading properly, and I did not smell fuel near my car in the previous times when I had been near my car. I should note that each day previous to discovering the leak, the car was parked for several hours in the same spot and I did not smell any fumes outside or inside the car.
To inspect your tank, jack up the rear end, and slide under the passenger side, infront of the rear wheel, and Look towards the rear of the car at the tank just to the left of the strap where the pin which holds the strap in place is located.
Long story short: I've reached the point where critical plastic parts are failing on me. About two months ago I had the top tank of my radiator develop a crack near the water inlet that connects to the thermostat housing. And now my gas tank has cracked. Since this is a pretty serious failure in regards to safety (fires can lead to serious injury, loss of life, property, etc.) I personally don't think this is something that should be overlooked. So, check your tanks. If you don't find anything, feel lucky. If you do, replace the damn thing before something much worse happens.
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