The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 46 PU gas tank question

I topped off my fuel tank a few days ago on my '46 Chevy. PU, drove a few (3 or 4) miles then when parked on street, I noticed fuel dripping out of the filler spout onto my running board. I siphoned fuel out of the fill tube neck, and in the next several hours it happened another 2 times. Could anyone explain this? It is like the fuel expands in the tank under the seat. What is the fix?

It will do that on a hot day. The fuel is stored under ground at the station so it's kind of cool. When it heats up in the cab of your truck, it expands and runs over. I had a Jeep that did that all the time. The filler neck was only a few inches long, so I would stuff the nozzle as far in as I could and not top it off unless I was going to use a few gallons right away. If you park the truck so the filler neck is on the downhill side, it exaggerates the situation.

I told my son not to top of his tank because of the tank being under the seat the filler neck is very short and he does not want gas to spill over and run down the next over the grommet into the cab.

Though this post was great because it got me to remember the old days when all gas tanks had vented caps. And how on hot days the gas could leak from expansion.

So another piece of advice I have to pass on to my son.

and you got that right, my newly repaved street now has a crown in it and my truck does sit at an angle with the filler on the downhill side. I am thinking of threading a nipple and tubing near the top of the filler neck and running it to dump under the truck, like a radiator overflow. What do you think?

Mine has done it a couple times also. But I usually don't fill it full, as it doesn't get used that much.

I think the greenies would go nuts. "This ol' boy has discreetly and deliberately rigged a way to dump gasoline into the environment."

I think you had best take precautions to prevent overflow. Such as take a drive in the country after filling.

Or, as previously mentioned, don't fill it all the way full!

Gasoline does come from the earth (recycling). I do prefer not to dump it, but I can't always just drive around either. I think the overflow is my option but I will look into a fuel tank sending unit that is vented.