Yet another question

[amybethcarr]

As a few of you kindly mentioned on my last post, there is a lot of info on the subscribers section.....I now have my car back on my driveway, it made it that far from the garage, and now I am going to attempt to take of my fuel tank, as advised by you lovely people, and give it a jiggle and see what comes out.
I was wondering if there are any "complete and utter fools" guides to removing ones fuel tank??

All suggestions appreciated as the pics in my Haynes are RUBBISH!!! 

[Hazey-n-Marc]

Stuey and me did mine a few months back.
Is your tank almost empty? If not you need to get it on red. You will most likely need another pair of hands for some of the jiggling. Make sure the car is very stable on jacks and axle stands. Take your time and ensure you know what goes where for when you come to refit it. Mark one of the fuel lines so you know which one it is. Getting the tank back in place and getting the two pipes (filler and breather) off and on are the fiddly bits, the clips are a pain.
Don't smoke or light candles during the process.
Good luck
Marc

[Hazey-n-Marc]

Oh yeah, release the handbrake when the back wheels are in the air (gives a touch more clearance getting the tank on and off, make sure the front wheels are well chocked (bits of wood or something), and a bit of washing up liquid might help getting awkward pipes back on.

[amybethcarr]

Super thank you for all that advice, I think I am going to try to persuade my dad to help me tomorrow rather than going to play golf.....watch this space!!
Technical question.....my manual, which is like an extension to my left arm at the moment, tell me I have to " lift out the rear seat and disconnect the leads from the tank sender unit" ..... what is one of those, what does it look like and where do i find it??! .... there are no flipping pictures like i am just supposed to know these things.....evidently we all are born with the in depth knowledge of tank sender units and i just missed that session!!!
i know you will all be shaking your heads at the thought that i am heading toward my lovely car with a spanner and a screw driver, as lets face it that is all you need to do ANYTHING on these gems!
please someone catch me up
 

[Hazey-n-Marc]

We didn't remove the rear seat, you can get to the connectors once the tank has dropped a little bit, quite fiddly though. Taking the seat out might help with the awkward pipes as well. Seats are easy to take out.
The sender will have to come out of the tank anyway, be careful not to break the gasket on it (it is quite sturdy, just be gentle), the fuel pick up is part of it which is one of the places that can get blocked. It will also allow you to see inside the tank better, DON'T USE A LIGHTER!!! sounds silly I know, but so many people have.
The only bit you will see is the top metal bit with two pipes and an electrical connector, it is about 3 or 4 inches across.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=tank+sender+unit+fiat+126&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=Us-ukjxzOk37YM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-126-FUEL-SENDER-UNIT-special-offer-/200433514111&docid=gQQifLqC58n_MM&itg=1&imgurl=http://i.ebayimg.com/19/!Bks!G4Q!2k~%2524(KGrHqQH-DYEs-Rl9So5BLYiEuMP,w~~_35.JPG&w=300&h=225&ei=A-rtT939L43D8QO97_WdDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=380&vpy=164&dur=2432&hovh=180&hovw=240&tx=115&ty=102&sig=118347528727986306586&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=222&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:73

[dajwid]

It may be worth changing the fuel pipe while you are under there. the thin pipe that goes to the carb, you buy it by the meter at any car parts place, very cheap, but could save a job later on.

[Rusty's Uncle]

MY advice would be to use wooden tees as they are bio-degradable, keep your head down and your eye on the ball. Don't try and skin the ball when you drive , let the club do the work. Remember "drive for show but putt for dough"  
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But if you insist on working on the 126  
You will need to remove the rear seat base and the nearside trim panel. The spring hose clips are a bit of a pain so you will need some strong pliers to disconnect the hoses. You can only get to the tank sender unit when the tank is out but the two wires have bullit type connectors but mine were under the car so had to lower tank to disconnect. The sender unit (bit that makes your fuel gauge work) also incorporates the fuel pick up & return pipes. As Marc says make a note of which pipes go where . The sender unit is held in by 6 small nuts and if the area is very rusty they may shear off the studs so clean the area carefully and give it some WD40.
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On the other hand you could just get the clubs out  

[bis13]

an obvious but often neglected thing is make sure that you siphon off the fuel in your tank as it will make it safer and lighter to take out and if you don t you will at some point get petrol sploshed all over you, also make sure the car is well jacked up as you will appreciate the extra room under the car.

[amybethcarr]

Great advice, we are in the throws as we speak and father has asked me to ask a question......before we take the tank off we found the wires that run under the rear seat to be exposed.....thought that might have been a contributor. We have now discovered that when we start him up, the fuel filter drains to almost empty then runs at that till you turn off the engine. in our heads that means it not getting sufficient fuel to the engine......could be bits in of course, but there is another guy here who has had these wonderful cars and he said that if there were bits in the fuel tank you would be able to tell......(he said something would look all dirty)
any suggestions on the fuel thing would be appreciated!!x

[Rusty's Uncle]

That is one of the things that threw me as I was not getting a hint of anything showing up in the online filter and when I took the tank out I was suprised how little rust particles it took to clog the outlet filter. The petrol in the filter always seems to have a mind of it's own as it somtimes stays in the filter sometimes drains back. The problem started with my car after driving about 10 to 15 miles of normal driving or less than that if driven hard. To test out the "muck in tank" theory I drove the car hard around the block a few times braking hard regularly to make suire that the fuel in the tank got the maximum agitation and in a low gear drawing as much fuel as possible. I managed to get it cutting out after about half a mile which confirmed my suspicions. If you do take the tank out then I knew from previous experience that getting the filler hose back in position is tricky as it is a tight fit. I had a think about it and ended up folding the hose in on itself and putting a cable tie around it and it went back up the hole very easily then just remove the cable tie.
If you are working on a low budget you could flush the tank out then remove the filter from inside the tank , it will slide off the tube, then you could just rely on an online filter on the inlet side of the fuel pump.