[Sensible_]

Originally Posted by bluewater328

I dig the grommets, where did you source those?

I'm going to pull the wheel liner this weekend. Figure I'd be able to at least see if it's frayed when I take a look at the hole area.

I got them from a local hardware store. You can get them from eBay though.

You won't be able to see the damaged area. The damage is almost always on the side next to the tank (under the rear seat).

Unless you have visible fuel leaking out when the tank is full, I wouldn't worry.

[bmwrepairguide]

Excellent write up! Very detailed and thorough... much appreciated.

[JonathanC]

Originally Posted by Sensible_

Old thread. Just thought I’d let people know the hole drilling method above works a treat. You can do it with just the hole on the side (lower hole in the photos). Slide a screwdriver in and push on the white clip. Pull the pipe out at the same time, from under the wheel arch liner.

It’s an easy job. 1 hour max. Seriously no point in dropping the tank. I drilled a 20mm hole and that was enough to get the screw driver in to depress the white clip and lever

Did you remove the old pipe via the holes you drilled? 20mm doesn't seem large enough. I've got mine disconnected but can't feed it back out through the wheel arch.

Edit: now sorted. 44mm hole on the side to feed the hose through. On my 06 330i saloon there was no chance of taking the hose out through the wheel well or feeding the new one in. The fuel tank connector with the white tab is just too big. A 44mm hole was barely enough.

Anyway a big thanks for sharing more success with the "drill some holes" method. I'm not sure I'd have tried without that. Looking forward to filling the tank up to the top!

[XCT]

i finished this job, i drilled a 44mm hole on the side as people above, i could have gotten away with a smaller hole but bigger hole makes the repair easier.. The pipe can be inserted from the wheel arch side. I recommend using an oil change latex glove so u dont push dirt in the pipe. Always buy the protection tube too ( 16124390434 ) if you replace the pipe ( 16126765748 ). For the clip i have removed from the bottom i needed a thin flat head screw driver. It is easier to remove the top part first. The top part i pressed to unclip but it needed to be twisted too. then you can twist the whole pipe to adjust the lower clip so u can remove it easier. After all this i found out my old pipe was not the problem. it might be the pump too. check first the it is actually the pipe. My leak is from from the nipple connection itself, it looks like someone changed the pipe but yanked the nipple and made a leak in its seal or the design is very bad, as the nipple is set to an angle and the pipe pushes against the chassis and the fuel tank, over time the nipple connection with the fuel tank fails and the pipe gets cut. i will try glazing with the soldering iron and cover with POXILINA for additional sealing strength.
For rust and fuel protection i recommend grunding, painting and acrylic clear coat.
I managed to find on ebay 43-46mm grommets to cap off the holes.

After resolving the issue, it turn out the problem for slicing the pipe, caused the nipple seal to crack at the connection with the fuel tank. Its the angle that the connection comes at. it was half broken leaking fuel from there. The fuel tank vonnection was probably designed by someone withouth a hole sense if you know what i mean. It looks like the fuel tank is made of usual polyethilene and nothing sticks to it. I repaired it with soldering iron where i could reach and a screwdriver heated with a blow torch in harder to access areas. The fuel tank might have a 3mm thickness, i did not go beyond 1mm to get a good bond.

[XCT]

it failed again,
cracked in the same spot after driving on some touges with the reservoir full.

the permanent solution seems to make the breather hose hole larger and more to the right as it constantly presses on that plastic fitting from the reservoir.

[NjPrince]

Instructions: Take apart entire interior and exterior

[XCT]

for the interior, the bench has 2 clips near the front of the bench, you just pull on it, the side door trim has 4 clips, you should be able to unclip them by bending the trim a bit and sliding, for the exterior you only have to remove the wheel and clips for the wheel arch to be able to get it out of the way.

as for the update i bent the tube with a heatgun, checked the bend with water to see if it has holes and hope for the best

[armanos]

Originally Posted by XCT

i finished this job, i drilled a 44mm hole on the side as people above, i could have gotten away with a smaller hole but bigger hole makes the repair easier.. The pipe can be inserted from the wheel arch side. I recommend using an oil change latex glove so u dont push dirt in the pipe. Always buy the protection tube too ( 16124390434 ) if you replace the pipe ( 16126765748 ). For the clip i have removed from the bottom i needed a thin flat head screw driver. It is easier to remove the top part first. The top part i pressed to unclip but it needed to be twisted too. then you can twist the whole pipe to adjust the lower clip so u can remove it easier. After all this i found out my old pipe was not the problem. it might be the pump too. check first the it is actually the pipe. My leak is from from the nipple connection itself, it looks like someone changed the pipe but yanked the nipple and made a leak in its seal or the design is very bad, as the nipple is set to an angle and the pipe pushes against the chassis and the fuel tank, over time the nipple connection with the fuel tank fails and the pipe gets cut. i will try glazing with the soldering iron and cover with POXILINA for additional sealing strength.
For rust and fuel protection i recommend grunding, painting and acrylic clear coat.
I managed to find on ebay 43-46mm grommets to cap off the holes.

After resolving the issue, it turn out the problem for slicing the pipe, caused the nipple seal to crack at the connection with the fuel tank. Its the angle that the connection comes at. it was half broken leaking fuel from there. The fuel tank vonnection was probably designed by someone withouth a hole sense if you know what i mean. It looks like the fuel tank is made of usual polyethilene and nothing sticks to it. I repaired it with soldering iron where i could reach and a screwdriver heated with a blow torch in harder to access areas. The fuel tank might have a 3mm thickness, i did not go beyond 1mm to get a good bond.

I remember reading quite a few posts where guys broke said blue nipple when changing the breather pipe by not following the procedure but dropping the tank a bit instead. They ended up changing the fuel tank. I think this is what happened in this case, too.
I have to do this job in coming days, seems a pain in the **s no matter how you look at it.

[armanos]

For reference, I did the job. I followed the DIY. I replaced the breather line with an AN12 steel-braided PTFE fuel line off aliexpress; of course, I attached the original fittings at both ends, which was easy with the help of a heat gun followed by clamping with worm clamps. Now, some notes:
It is absolutely crucial to replace the foam squares on the fuel tank that secures it in place. There are iirc 7 (or 8) of them, 4 on the top (2 or three on one side, 2 on the other) and 3 on the front side that rests against a reinforcing beam. Mine were all gone except one. But their positions are clearly marked on the tank, and I made my own from layers of sticky drywall joist tape (the originals are way too soft I think and not secured in place well enough). Once the straps are tightened, the tank should be very snug - you should be able to push the car by grabbing on the tank. The absence of these squares and the ensuing movement of the tank is what causes the rubbing of the breather in the first place. On my car the hole in the body where the breather goes through had a plastic guard on the tank cavity side - and the breather actually rubbed against this plastic guard, because it had a clear rub gauge on it! Not on the metal edge! So I think the holesaw method may not be a permanent fix, because movement of the tank is not prevented, and the rubbing will continue.
When taking off the exhaust, there is no need to unbolt the hangers (the bolts may be badly corroded), just take them off the rubber hanger thingies; spray them with silicone and they will come off easily.
When accessing the handbrake lines, I did not disconnect the SRS module, just laid it on the side (of course, I disconnected the negative terminal beforehand). Everything worked out fine in the end, but maybe I risked a deployment... who knows.
It's a massive job with unexpected delays (like, in my car the left front hanger where the strap bolts in was so rusted it broke apart, so I had to construct a new one by drilling a vertical hole through the reinforcing beam and running a long M8 bolt through it so I could secure the strap with a nut).
Removing the tank is a good reason to do some anti-rust treatment in the tank cavity; it's an old car now, and there will be rust. For some reason, only the left side of the tank cavity was rusted, the right side was mostly fine. So I did some anti-rust treatment. There was a lot of surface rust on the left inner rear sill, but the steel is very thick and high quality, it was nowhere near that a hole would form.

EDIT: When installing back the driveshaft, make sure you bolt the CSB bracket up the correct way, i.e., the longest segment of the bracket should go up, not down. It may be obvious, but it is an easy mistake to make in the rush to put everything back and be done after days in a cold garage crawling under the car breathing dust. You will know it if you put it back the wrong way - vibrations when accelerating. Continuing driving with incorrectly bolted up bracket will cause the rubber that holds the bearing to tear apart.

[Boza13]

This is just one great DIY. Thanks.