Hey everyone!
I have a little Renault Clio, R reg, 5 door with 22,000 k. Bought second hand in England, has never been abroad!
I have a slight problem with the fuel tank!!! If I fill the tank to full it leaks loads all over the place, but only if I park on a hill. I have had it looked at and nothing seems to be working. I had it sealed temporarily but I just dont bother filling to top. I'm worried that it will get worse eventually meaning a new car or something so i'm quite keen to fix it now. Do I need a new tank? Anyone had the same problem and had it resolved?
Jo
You should definately not procrastinate in fixing it; if its been leaking and it gets a spark or too much engine heat, it could cause a very hot, very dangerous, and very car-burning fire. (I've seen burned out cars before; sometimes the fire gets so hot the windows melt.)
I'd suggest treating your fuel with a leak detection agent (that would show up where it leaked, they have such things that will show up under UV light, for example.), just make sure it's okay to put in the fuel. Once you find where the leak is, exactly, (Given your description, I'd look near the top of the tank and/or around the pipe going into the tank.) you need to either plug it (probably using something like plumber's putty, but better, and not disolvable by gasoline) or replace the tank if it can't be plugged. Replacing the tank will probably be horrendously expensive, so fix the leak if you can.
Hey thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately there is technically no leak (which I forgot to mention!) It's a design fault with the tank so as the tank gets too full the opening of the tank distorts so the lid doesn't fit properly. Now the thing is, I dont want to replace the whole tank if it's just going to do the same thing with a new one! I have looked on the re-call list and this problem is not listed 
Jo Don't buy a Renault.... sounds like a pretty major design fault, not to mention dangerous. Did you know about this before you bought the car?
No I didn't know about the petrol leak before hand but it's such a lovely little car otherwise!
Well, search the internet for an existing solution. Somebody else has probably already had your problem.
If there is no existing solution, by all means, use your ingenuity and make one.
Lemme tell you a story about a relitive of mine;
He had a 197X buick car, which had a design flaw that caused the suspension to leak on one side or the other. He couldn't find any existing solution to the problem, so he made his own solution using plumbing supplies. He later found out that many people had the same problem, and he started his own buisness selling kits to fix the problem, which include all the needed parts and instructions. He's now a millionare.
Hey there doesn't seem to be many people with the problem, have only found one or two who have no solution either and that's after months of searching and asking mechanics. If I tried to create a solution, the car would probably explode hehehe, so then my Dad would have to do it making him a millionaire which is almost as good! I like the idea of creating a solution and selling it.... but there probably wouldn't be enough sold in good old England!
Jo
The way I see it, you have 3 options:
1: Take a good look at how and why it dosn't work, and fix that in any way you can.
2: Do what the person who sold it to you did: sell it to someone who dosn't know about the problem.
3: Check for after-market parts that fix the problem.
(For example, my family once had a 1995 dodge caravan (Don't ever buy one of those!). After replacing the engine twice due to cooling failure, we found out about a design flaw in it: the coolant pump was insufficient. We went to an auto-parts store and bought a better pump, and it never destroyed another engine.)
I´d probably just buy one at yout local scrap yard.
^That won't work!
The new tank will have the same design flaw.
Contact the people who made the car and see if they know what to do about it; presumably they're the experts on it.
Another nice thing to do, although it's too late in your case, is to check a vehicle's title history and see how many times it has been sold. If it tends to get sold often, reconsider buying it and ask the seller why they're selling.
