99 OB Wagon Fuel Filler Neck Leak

I recently got a CEL with the dreaded 440 error code. I started
looking around to see what may be wrong, and to my surprise, there was
a lot of rust around the fuel cap inlet. I removed the plastic cover
over the fuel filler hose in the wheel well and tons of dirt came out.
The whole pipe is rusted out to the point where a hole has formed in
the pipe! What a POS design to trap moisture and dirt right next to
the gas fill line made of steel !!
Has anyone else had this problem and if so, were you able to replace
just he pipe or were there other parts required?
I found the filler pipe online for $90, but I can't find the other
parts surrounding the pipe.
IMHO this should be a recall issue since raw gas can leak out the
holes and cause a fire, or at best, poor fuel economy and a CEL.
Bob

On Dec 16, 4:25 pm, rd <n> wrote:
> I recently got a CEL with the dreaded 440 error code. I started
> looking around to see what may be wrong, and to my surprise, there was
> a lot of rust around the fuel cap inlet. I removed the plastic cover
> over the fuel filler hose in the wheel well and tons of dirt came out.
> The whole pipe is rusted out to the point where a hole has formed in
> the pipe! What a POS design to trap moisture and dirt right next to
> the gas fill line made of steel !!
> Has anyone else had this problem and if so, were you able to replace
> just he pipe or were there other parts required?
> I found the filler pipe online for $90, but I can't find the other
> parts surrounding the pipe.
> IMHO this should be a recall issue since raw gas can leak out the
> holes and cause a fire, or at best, poor fuel economy and a CEL.
> Bob

Hi Bob,

I just did this repair on my wifes 99 forester 3 weeks ago. I do not
know if Outback is same or not. I'd suggest at minimum getting all new
hardware, as every screw will likely all break off when you try to
remove it. There were 3 screws to hold the pipe to the body on top, 3
screws to hold tthe plastic cover to the new fillerneck and 2 or 3 th
attach a clip and the pipe to the car midstream. Her's also has some
sort of vacum valve at the top of the fillerneck on the Forester and 2
nuts to mount that. I also got that valve and new nuts, since that was
where her's was leaking. I needed to provide the car vin since they
changed design midyear. . Additionally I bought a new sheetmetal ring
and rubber seal that went in the gas cap side. The pipe was $90 and
the valve was $40 something. Add the other items and it totaled 150
something in parts including shipping. I bought parts from www.premiersubaru.com.
They were great, but this was a curse your subaru repair on the
Forester because the hose from the gas tank only came out less than 1
inch from the crossmember. The pipe is pushed in it about 2" into that
hose. When you unscrew everything there was not enough clearance to
slide the pipe out from the body to twist it and not enough hose to
grab to pull it out. I ended up prying the hose a bit loose with a
screwdriver and spraying soap between the hose and pipe to finally
free it after struggling a lot. If you have the same situation on the
Outback (too short a hose to grab) suggest you ask someone where you
buy parts or perhaps here or just remove the back seat to see if the
rubber fill hose can be disconnected from top of the gas tank via a
cover plate. If it can it becomes an easy job. Good news is that the
light has stayed off.. Yea - I agree with you that gas pipes shouldn't
have to fail. In fact in many years of car ownership I never seen one
fail. I think 3 lbs. of dirt/mud must have come out when i pulled off
the cover. I'd personally skip the junkyard on this as unless you
happen to hit on one that has been replaced, I doubt they could get it
in usable condition.

Good luck
Ron