Well, aside from the crud in my tank, a large dent in the tank, a broken odometer, a gas gauge stuck at full, and a light gas smell in the cabin, the car did very well for it's first two days as a commuter car.

Trouble is, I topped off the tank on Wednesday and drove it Thursday and Friday. My commute is around 15 miles each way, and I drove some co-workers to lunch on Friday too. I was heading to my home rehab job after my main job on Friday and I ran out of gas. This would have been after around 75 total miles. That works out to an atrocious 7.5 miles to the gallon.

There are no gas "pools" under the rear of the car and while there's a strong gas smell in the trunk area, I can see no leaks or wet spots in the trunk.

Things are really hectic right now, but I plan to remove the tank this weekend, flush it thoroughly, clean the under coating, try and pop out my big dent, check the fuel sender as per Old Kombi's "zombie-posting" thread. As I did with my 67 wagon tank, I plan to completely paint the top of the tank with POR15 to seal any possible pinholes.

While many recommend a removal and trip to a resealing shop or quality time with a kit, I have to have the car back in service on Monday, so I'm down to whatever I can get done this evening and Sunday.

Are there any other recommended actions while have this tank out???


Also, are there any sources for that single plastic odometer gear that seems to always fail on these cars??