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White plastic retaining ring on the filler neck

R

Redlineracer12

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Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
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Location
Twin Cities, MN
I believe this is the cause of my leaking fuel tank. It only leaks on me when I have it over 2/3s and I park on an incline. The part of the tank that was wet was directly under where the filler neck pours in. I'm thinking the white collar is broken and that's why it's not latched. I doubt that it's supposed to be split like mine is.

Here are some pictures to describe what I'm talking about:

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I'm going to go back out and see if I can push that bad boy in at all. Otherwise I'll be ordering a new one on Monday :cool:

Oh and this is on my 99 Cougar but I know they're the same ;)
 
I had that problem awhile ago. I believe that you can't get just the white piece. You have to buy a whole new filler neck and it comes all together. It was around $200 from the stealership. I ended up dropping the tank again and resealing the rubber on the end of it and it finally stopped leaking after about 2 months. It's been a few years now and I've never had any problems from it.


Knock on wood now. :blackeye:
 
Yeah this happened out of nowhere, I hadn't monkeyed with anything back there and one day it just leaked a bunch out. Thanks for the tip but I truly hope it isn't only available as the assembly or I might have to do some jy shopping. Did you have to drop the tank to get at it? I'm assuming so.
 
You can indeed purchase the retaining collar and the donut seal separately. I did so a little over a year and a half ago via a local dealer. Cost me less than 20 bucks total, IIRC.

You will have to drop the tank to replace it, though....

That is some nasty corrosion on that filler neck....


Steve
 
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projectSHO89 said:
You can indeed purchase the retaining collar and the donut seal separately. I did so a little over a year and a half ago via a local dealer. Cost me less than 20 bucks total, IIRC.

You will have to drop the tank to replace it, though....

That is some nasty corrosion on that filler neck....


Steve
Click to expand...

Sounds like a fun project :laugh: Thanks for the tip.

I'll be calling on it tomorrow to see what I can find. What is the donut seal you're referring to?
 
Keep us posted on the results. Mine leaked out at the gas station. I need to get underneath and see why. It might be the same as yours though.
 
Yeah keep us posted on this. When I contacted my dealer, they gave me a diagram of the fuel filler neck and I pointed at the part that I needed and they tried to find it but the only thing that they could get is the whole assembly. If I could get it then I'm going to be pee'd off.
 
Well when I called yesterday about the part Steve at Tousley says he has it (actually two parts of it) in stock. He does remember a time when he had to sell people entire filler neck assemblies but he doesn't remember if those were earlier Contour's or what. This is for my 99' Cougar. He told me there is an inner part that goes in the tank and an outer ring. I'm not really sure but I'll check it out when I get there. These parts totaled something like 8 bucks so I hope he's right :laugh:

I'll post pics and p/n's after I pick them up from him around 4 today.
 
Redlineracer12 said:
Well when I called yesterday about the part Steve at Tousley says he has it (actually two parts of it) in stock. He does remember a time when he had to sell people entire filler neck assemblies but he doesn't remember if those were earlier Contour's or what. This is for my 99' Cougar. He told me there is an inner part that goes in the tank and an outer ring. I'm not really sure but I'll check it out when I get there. These parts totaled something like 8 bucks so I hope he's right :laugh:

I'll post pics and p/n's after I pick them up from him around 4 today.
Click to expand...

Sounds about right.

The inner donut seal goes between the filler pipe and the neck on the fuel tank. The white collar then pushes down and locks everything together. A real PITA to get it in there and to get it sealed.

Make certain you put the locking collar onto the filler pipe first...

Also, make certain everything is clean and that you use some lube on the filler pipe. I used a silicone grease.

Steve
 
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Good advice! Thanks :cool:

Like I said I will post my findings tonight or tomorrow, but won't attempt the project til this weekend as I'm pretty busy this week.
 
my car leaked fuel again today. I was on E and figured I would put 13 gallons in as to not overfill it and get a leak. At 12.6 I heard liquid hitting the pavement. I looked under and it was spilling right at the tank.

Guess I need to get this fixed pretty quickly.

POST LOTS OF PICS !!!!!!!
 
Okay here are the part numbers:
Part XS2Z-9149-AA is the white retaining clip and
Part XS7Z-9072-AA is the boot that I'm assuming fits down into the tank. Not sure why I'd have to replace this but what the heck as long as I'm in there it's only five bucks.

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The white clip was 3.48 plus tax and the boot was 5.72 both from Steve at Tousley Ford, but prices are known to change a lot at the dealership so I wouldn't expect those exact prices someday down the road.

Out the door for under $10 bucks :cool: Hopefully the lowering the tank shouldn't go too bad, maybe I'll snap a few more pics while I'm under there.
 
my_black99svt said:
my car leaked fuel again today. I was on E and figured I would put 13 gallons in as to not overfill it and get a leak. At 12.6 I heard liquid hitting the pavement. I looked under and it was spilling right at the tank.

Guess I need to get this fixed pretty quickly.

POST LOTS OF PICS !!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't fill it past a half tank until you get it fixed, that's when mine leaked, over half a tank and parked on a hill.

Have you gotten underneath to confirm that it's coming from where the filler neck meets the tank? You should be able to see if the tank is wet from a fresh leak.
 
Redlineracer12 said:
Have you gotten underneath to confirm that it's coming from where the filler neck meets the tank? You should be able to see if the tank is wet from a fresh leak.
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No, not yet. It is kind of cold out and I don't have a garage. When my gf gets back into town I will use hers and get under there. I'm pretty sure it is from the filler neck tank junction though. The location of the spill was right from the tank and it spills as it reaches full.
 
I'm glad that you had some luck on getting the parts. I wish everything went my way back then. I guess ford finally figured it out that they needed to offer those parts seperately.
 
Well I put the new seal and retaining clip in just now, but it still leaks :(

Leaking from the same area and still just as bad (if not worse) then before. Maybe the tank itself is damaged? I lowered it far enough to get it off the filler neck. Cleaned the neck itself up and slid the new ring and seal onto it. Then I pushed the tank back up there, got it strapped up, and got the white ring clipped on. So what gives? It's leaking pretty badly so I'm going to have to try and drain some out of it to get it back down a few gallons. :cry:
 
Okay, re-reading through some howto's i'm not sure I have the retaining ring in the correct orientation. Should the white tabs be sticking through the window or should it be turned so that they're not visible? It makes sense to me the way I have it with them sticking out the windows.
 
The donut must be fully seated into the tank's opening well, then the retainer must be pushed down until the four retaining tabs pop into the corresponding cutouts.

Removing the retainer is a different matter. Trying to depress all four tabs at the same time is more than a little chore.

Steve
 
projectSHO89 said:
The donut must be fully seated into the tank's opening well, then the retainer must be pushed down until the four retaining tabs pop into the corresponding cutouts.

Removing the retainer is a different matter. Trying to depress all four tabs at the same time is more than a little chore.

Steve
Click to expand...

Well I'm pretty sure I have the donut pressed in all the way and the retaining ring is clipped in place. The ring does have some play though I can push it around rather easily so it's not holding much as far as I can tell.
 
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