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Fuel tank replacement 1996 Legacy Outback


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Sorry to be bearer of bad news.

GAS TANK REPLACEMENTS ARE A SLIPPERY SLOPE

If the car has been driven in enough rust to cause the tank to leak then all the bolts,fittings are usually rusty too.

I drop the whole rear end to do this job. There are 14mm frame bolts that screw into weld nuts. What happens is that the weld nuts brake loose inside the frame=super bummer. I've also seen the bolts rust to the cast iron spacers in the wheelwells.

The place that these tanks rust is at the seams and in the valley that is under the back seats.

Subaru built the car around the tank and didn't take in to account them rusting out.

BEWARE...I've done 3 and all were a rusty pain...damn you salt.

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What you say is very true. Like I said the one bolt took an hour and a half to remove. Gently moving it back and forth and spraying it with PB Blaster until it let go. We could not use the heat wrench because of the leak in the tank and gasoline fume hazard. The liquid salt that is used here on the roads IS the culprit. Anything it comes in contact with for a long time and is not coated it will rust. That is why the brake lines had to be replaced, the stuff just pitted the metal until they broke.

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My trusted but conservative mechanic wants to look carefully before even agreeing to do it, Logic23; he said in his experience the job could SNOWBALL if it's very rusty, in which case he just wouldn't do it.

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  • 6 years later...

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