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Garage wants to drop the gas tank

F

frankzen

New CEG'er
Joined
Jun 19, 2006
Messages
8
Location
Montreal Quebec
My wifes 96 Contour developed a leak in the right rear brake line yesterday...took it into the shop this morning...and they say they have to drop the gas tank to fix the lines which go over the top of the tank. I asked about re-routing the line(s) but they say no can do. Are they telling the truth or are they looking for a couple of hours extra of labor??? Can the lines be re-routed ??


All advice welcome!!
 
I had one of my brake lines fail above the gas tank. They disconncted it at both ends and routed another line without dropping the gas tank. Actually got them to do BOTH real brake lines. There was NO need to drop the tank.
 
There could be legal liability issues if they actually "rerouted" brake lines....NO intelligent garage should agree to that.
 
amc49 said:
There could be legal liability issues if they actually "rerouted" brake lines....NO intelligent garage should agree to that.
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So it looks like the tank has to come down...good thing it's plastic!

Thanks guys...at least the issue is clarified!! Why the he** would Ford engineers run the lines over the top of the tank....??
 
frankzen said:
So it looks like the tank has to come down...good thing it's plastic!

Thanks guys...at least the issue is clarified!! Why the he** would Ford engineers run the lines over the top of the tank....??
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Its pretty common to see this on any car... they want the lines up and out of the way. Personally if it was me id just route them around, but ya, they might be liable.
 
Dyoel182 said:
Because it protects the lines and you almost never need to work on them.
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Not on our cars. :blackeye: After working on quite a few contours, I noted that these always rust out in the back. On my GL I just ran these around the rear subframe. Works, but good chance it might be damaged. On other cars and SE I did it properly, dropped the tank and all that. The union is actually right above the tank. I've also noted that other things above the tank were rusted more than anywhere else on the car. It looks like the moisture gets trapped there. There was lots of road dirt on the top of the tank as well. If you getting new lines get them coated or you can buy plastic coated ones.
 
They run hydraulic and fuel lines close to center of car to help in accident situations, they want them to be last things damaged. Fuel leaks cause fires, you burn up occupants you get your butt sued off. Also, someone hits you in side, brakes valuable if you are now sliding toward a cliff, more liability issues. That's why fuel tanks under back seats and such instead of way in back of car like used to.
 
Dyoel182 said:
Well any road salt car will have more small problems like that compared to cars down here.
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That's for sure- garage says they drop the tank on many cars...always for the same reason rotting rusted lines in the area just above the tank. Everything gets trapped there. The bill incidentally was over $500!!!!!!! Mostly labor
 
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