Hi Guys and Girls
Just need a bit of advice. Please let me start by apologizing for the length of the post in advance, as I am aware it's a bit long!
I have an 09 registered Micra, and I have noticed a few times over the past 4 months or so that if I fill the petrol to the absolute brim, I can have a very minor amount of petrol appear below the tank (on the ground so to speak) / strong smell of petrol outside the car and inside interior for a small period of time a short while after (usually later in the day / next morning) until I have done a journey in it that gets the petrol in the tank down to a slightly lower level. This spillage is very minor as I say, so I am not overly worried, but obviously it is not ideal. Usually if I have filled it to the absolute brim and then go on a 20 mile trip or so, these symptoms disappear, there is no longer a sign of overspilled petrol on the ground, such as noticeable spots.
The first few times this happened I had questioned whether I had spilt petrol on myself whilst filling up (due to me being more aware of the smell symptom at first), and that maybe some had got on my clothes and smell had transferred to seats even though I was very aware that this was highly unlikely! However when it happened a third or fourth time and I was sure no petrol had been spilt on me, I started to think that this can't be a co incidence. I only noticed the minor spot of petrol under the tank on last occasion it happened, and then started to think that this is happening every time it is completely filled so there must be a leak of some sort somewhere.
I have recently had it confirmed by a couple of different mechanics that they believe the fuel pipe is a bit corroded, and this is why I am having this symptom when the tank is completely full. Both mechanics looked under the car independent of one another. One believed it may be the fuel pipe, the other said possibly some rubber seal around the end of the furl pipe going in to the tank? I am no mechanic at all, but now I have had this explained to me and looked underneath the pipe does appears to be slightly worn / a tad rusted / corroded over time but no noticeable cracks in it as such. I have had it confirmed that there is definitely no visible cracks / holes in the tank as such and this looks perfectly fine also from what I can see with my limited knowledge, so I do believe a corroded fuel pipe that feeds in to tank sounds plausible. I have had the car from brand new and it is now getting close to 78,000 miles on the clock, so I guess it would be likely that after eight years of driving, a pipe could get like this in terms of wear and tear.
For the time being I have been conscious not to fill the tank to the brim, and am trying to just go a few litres underneath full capacity every time I re fuel to avoid the minor petrol overspill scenario again, and so far, there has been no further leaks as such, which is reassuring and again makes me believe the corroded pipe explanation sounds genuine and legitimate.
I will carry on with the precautionary measure of not completely filling it for now, but obviously would prefer to sort this in the long term as don't want to always have to be mindful of this every time I need to re fuel the car.
Now the last mechanic I saw told me that to get a new fuel pipe from Nissan themselves costs a ridiculous amount (several hundred?) and that I would be better off going to a car breaker / scrapyard to get a second hand fuel pipe to replace the now apparently corroded pipe. I have been told by them that if I source the part, they will be happy to fit it, and it shouldn't be more than a standard hours labour to do.
Now I have several questions that I'm hoping some more knowledgeable people here may be able to answer. They are:
1.) Given all of the above info, has anyone else encountered this issue and if so, did replacing fuel pipe resolve it? If it did not, could it be anything else, and if so, how did you fix it?
2.) If you did replace fuel pipe, is it actually a good idea to replace with one from a scrapyard? I only ask because I would imagine if this has also been used, there is likely to be some corrosion in this case also? If anyone did use a scrapyard version, what did you pay? I have already made some phone calls but all scrapyards I have inquired with appear to not have the part at all (or if they do may be from an earlier Micra model), which I can only guess is because said car is still what I would call fairly new, so I imagine few are scrapped as such.
3.) If you replaced with new part directly from Nissan, was it as expensive as I have been led to believe?
4.) If you replaced from E Bay (which I have seen some fuel pipes on) is this wise, or would you avoid buying parts in this manner?
Again, sorry this has been lengthy, but any advice that you can all give is much appreciated!
Just need a bit of advice. Please let me start by apologizing for the length of the post in advance, as I am aware it's a bit long!
I have an 09 registered Micra, and I have noticed a few times over the past 4 months or so that if I fill the petrol to the absolute brim, I can have a very minor amount of petrol appear below the tank (on the ground so to speak) / strong smell of petrol outside the car and inside interior for a small period of time a short while after (usually later in the day / next morning) until I have done a journey in it that gets the petrol in the tank down to a slightly lower level. This spillage is very minor as I say, so I am not overly worried, but obviously it is not ideal. Usually if I have filled it to the absolute brim and then go on a 20 mile trip or so, these symptoms disappear, there is no longer a sign of overspilled petrol on the ground, such as noticeable spots.
The first few times this happened I had questioned whether I had spilt petrol on myself whilst filling up (due to me being more aware of the smell symptom at first), and that maybe some had got on my clothes and smell had transferred to seats even though I was very aware that this was highly unlikely! However when it happened a third or fourth time and I was sure no petrol had been spilt on me, I started to think that this can't be a co incidence. I only noticed the minor spot of petrol under the tank on last occasion it happened, and then started to think that this is happening every time it is completely filled so there must be a leak of some sort somewhere.
I have recently had it confirmed by a couple of different mechanics that they believe the fuel pipe is a bit corroded, and this is why I am having this symptom when the tank is completely full. Both mechanics looked under the car independent of one another. One believed it may be the fuel pipe, the other said possibly some rubber seal around the end of the furl pipe going in to the tank? I am no mechanic at all, but now I have had this explained to me and looked underneath the pipe does appears to be slightly worn / a tad rusted / corroded over time but no noticeable cracks in it as such. I have had it confirmed that there is definitely no visible cracks / holes in the tank as such and this looks perfectly fine also from what I can see with my limited knowledge, so I do believe a corroded fuel pipe that feeds in to tank sounds plausible. I have had the car from brand new and it is now getting close to 78,000 miles on the clock, so I guess it would be likely that after eight years of driving, a pipe could get like this in terms of wear and tear.
For the time being I have been conscious not to fill the tank to the brim, and am trying to just go a few litres underneath full capacity every time I re fuel to avoid the minor petrol overspill scenario again, and so far, there has been no further leaks as such, which is reassuring and again makes me believe the corroded pipe explanation sounds genuine and legitimate.
I will carry on with the precautionary measure of not completely filling it for now, but obviously would prefer to sort this in the long term as don't want to always have to be mindful of this every time I need to re fuel the car.
Now the last mechanic I saw told me that to get a new fuel pipe from Nissan themselves costs a ridiculous amount (several hundred?) and that I would be better off going to a car breaker / scrapyard to get a second hand fuel pipe to replace the now apparently corroded pipe. I have been told by them that if I source the part, they will be happy to fit it, and it shouldn't be more than a standard hours labour to do.
Now I have several questions that I'm hoping some more knowledgeable people here may be able to answer. They are:
1.) Given all of the above info, has anyone else encountered this issue and if so, did replacing fuel pipe resolve it? If it did not, could it be anything else, and if so, how did you fix it?
2.) If you did replace fuel pipe, is it actually a good idea to replace with one from a scrapyard? I only ask because I would imagine if this has also been used, there is likely to be some corrosion in this case also? If anyone did use a scrapyard version, what did you pay? I have already made some phone calls but all scrapyards I have inquired with appear to not have the part at all (or if they do may be from an earlier Micra model), which I can only guess is because said car is still what I would call fairly new, so I imagine few are scrapped as such.
3.) If you replaced with new part directly from Nissan, was it as expensive as I have been led to believe?
4.) If you replaced from E Bay (which I have seen some fuel pipes on) is this wise, or would you avoid buying parts in this manner?
Again, sorry this has been lengthy, but any advice that you can all give is much appreciated!
