A 1998 F150 arrived today with a "fuel leak" complaint. The customer noticed the leak after filling the fuel tank. With the vehicle in the air, I could see evidence of a fuel leak on the sides of the fuel tank which made me think there was a problem with either the fuel pump and/or lines, or the tank, itself. Either way, the tank had to come out of the truck for inspection.

I removed the fuel tank from the truck. One thing that got my attention during that process was the fact that I had to remove a substantial amount of debris that had gathered in between the top of the tank and the truck bed.

And there's my problem. The debris that had gathered in this area was large enough in physical size to cover the area seen above. But more importantly, enough debris had accumulated to retain moisture which caused the rust hole seen in the photos above and below.

When the customer filled the fuel tank, the sloshing fuel would leak out of the hole.

With a minimal amount of scraping, the extent of the damage became clear. There was no saving this tank. So this truck got a new fuel tank, fuel pump, and all the sensors and valves attached to the tank.