Hey yotatech, I’ve had a leaky drain bolt for my fuel tank for a while, it started about a month ago so I swapped the bolt and washer with new ones from Toyota and it still seems to be leaking. We’ve had below freezing temps lately and now that it’s above 40 it seems to be getting worse. Not sure how it’s still leaking since I cranked it down pretty hard, don’t know what the torque spec is cause the FSM I had been using online doesn’t work anymore. No noticeable cracks or anything around the threads, and there’s no impacts to the tank there, I always have the skid plate on it. Any ideas? Should I just drain the tank and jb weld the thing? Pull the tank and tig the bolt to the tank? I’d prefer to not drop the tank but I guess I will if I have to. I’ve searched around and haven’t found anyone with my specific problem. If anyone has had this and has a solution to give I’d appreciate it.

 

Nevermind there was a crack hiding under the paint just next to the drain bolt. Hopefully some tank weld fixes this.

 

Aye I think I have a 14 or 17gal tank, or originally had the 17 and now have a 14 cause the gauge never drops below 1/8 tank even when it’s empty and the gas light turns on at 1/4 tank. If I were to order a 17.2gal tank from a 1989 4Runner will my fuel pump and sending unit that I currently have work? From what I’ve gathered they all have the same bolt pattern as long as they’re 4wd right? I got the tank epoxied but I know that won’t last forever and wanna get a new tank to swap in. Dealership said through a vin lookup it should have a 17gal, but when I google/parts store lookup my year they always come back 14gal. 1989 is 17gal. Anyone able to help answer these questions? My 4Runner is a 1990 22re 5speed 4x4 build date of 09/89. Thanks yota bros

 

If you need a measurement from the pump hanger bracket I'll be pulling mine out this afternoon, it is a 17 gallon tank. I tried using the old bracket with new tank and the hard lines were just too far gone, picking up a new bracket from Toyota on Friday

 

from a 4Runner correct? I think the tanks from these are different than the 4wd pickups yeah? Any measurement would help. Then I’d know the overall depth of the tank for a 17gal

 

4Runner yep, '86, and yes I do believe the pickup truck tanks are different because of the 4R back seat.

I think you can measure the bottom half of the gas tank (the end towards the rear bumper) and if it's 8 1/4" deep it's a 17 gallon, where a 14 gallon is about 6 1/2" deep. I read that somewhere and that's what I went by when i ordered my new tank.

 

thanks for that little bit of info! Because of how my gauge only reads 1/8 tank when it’s bone dry I think someone might have shoved 17g guts into a 14g tank. I don’t know I can’t find actual part numbers to differentiate the internal parts differences between a 17 and 14g tank. I’m hoping someone here has a bigger brain than me and knows these things

 

Sorry couldn't get to removing the pump assembly tonight. Yesterday I tried starting it for the first time and that's when I discovered the old bracket wasnt going to work, sprang 5 different leaks out of the hard line coming from the pump, sprayed all over even on the carpet (had the access panel open). But the top of the tank was dry as a bone when I left it last night, and almost 24 hours later it's dripping fuel and the top of the tank is wet. Not sure why it still had that much air pressure 24 hours later to make it leak? I did relieve the pressure at the charcoal canister to stop the leak tonight.

ANYWAY I did get a couple measurements for ya, from my old sending unit, from the bottom of the float to the mounting plate is about 11 3/4" (I know the pic looks like 11 7/8" just trust me) and measurement from bottom of tank to top is about 12". The other part of my original sending unit is broken off and laying in the old tank so I am not sure if it hangs higher or lower than the float?

Also I said to measure your tank from the rear but it's actually the passenger side of the tank where you measure the 8" vs. 6" depth from middle seam.

 

thanks a bunch for the measurements but it may actually not work for me. I think 90-95 4Runners have different tanks from the 1st gens. The fill port is in a different location. Yours should be 90° off the passenger side of the tank correct? Mine is at a 45° angle off the passenger side pointed rearward. I can only find 14 and 15 gallon tanks for 1990-1995 that have that correct fill port angle. The 17g tanks are all 90° port off the passenger side. Think I’m stuck with a 14g repop or welding my original tank. The epoxy I fixed mine with yesterday decided it didn’t wanna work anymore on my drive home. I don’t know what my tank capacity actually is cause whenever I fill up it usually takes more than 14 gallons, I think last time was 14.8. Wish these damn things were stamped with info somewhere! I know I’ve read of people with 2nd gens with 17 gallon tanks. Even if you google “1990 4Runner fuel tank capacity” you get the answer 17.2 gallons. I measured my tank from the seam and it’s almost 9”

 

yes the filler on my tank is at 90 degree angle on pass side. The 14.8 gallons you referenced does equal the 56 liter tank capacity aka 14-gallon tank of the 1st gen, so I thought that was interesting. Hard to tell with old vehicles sometimes what someone did or what parts they used from the junkyard in the past to 'make things work'. Not saying that's the case here, more likely Toyota stuck with the same volume when they tweaked the tank for the 2nd gen 4R.

I've had old Fords for the past 20 years so it IS nice to have those part stampings, the Ford parts even include the year model and in some cases even the month and day it was made! I have not seen that in my short time in this Toyota (restoration) world.

I chimed in on this thread because my drain plug was stripped so I could relate, sorry it didn't help much! here's my new tank, which will soon have ALL new parts. I should have known that crusty thing would fail, but i knew at least I wouldn't have to drop the tank again to replace it...do the 2nd gens still have that access cover in rear floorboard?

 

aye man you still chimes in and helped a bit, wasn’t for nothing.

we only have access for fuel pump wiring connector and the fuel line from the access panel, not the actual fuel pump which sucks but whatever. This thing gets driven a lot and I have never had fuel pump issues so I’m not worried about replacing the guts in my tank. I think I’m going to hit my local pick a part this weekend and snag a tank. Can’t really wait the two weeks to get a tank from rockauto right now. So I’ll probably do that and let my old tank dry out for a few weeks then weld the crack in it. The epoxy I slathered on it on Tuesday didn’t hold and started a slow drip again after I got home yesterday. I crawled under there in the snow and spread some more seal-all around hahah.

 

for what it's worth I ordered this Spectra tank through Rock Auto on Feb 3rd and it was delivered Feb 5th

 

I was looking at the spectra tank last night and to pay less than $100 shipping it would have been Feb 12 delivery, can’t really have my truck down that long. I’d probably prefer a nice new tank but I’m not riding my motorcycle to work in this weather hahaha.

 

Yo bros, got my hands on a spectra premium tank from my local parts house. That’s sitting in my garage with the paint drying right now. So when my tank is empty the cluster reads 1/8 tank. My sending unit checks out to be just fine. Is my cluster bad? Is there a way to recalibrate it?