try looking up at the posting times Easy, I was typing mine when you posted yours

I researched this out a long time ago including the RX-8 tank material because I'm looking at cutting off the driver side of the tank to convert the passenger side only as a lower volume racing fuel cell

 

Look under the passenger seat too, theres also a sending unit/gas gauge under there than can leak. You can buy the tool on amazon for $20 to tighten it down yourself.

 

Hi, thank you for this site and info, just drove some 1000k in newly acquired RX8 that had fuel smell from when I collected it, very hard to track down where it was coming from until eventually filling it up with gas and parked on flat ground it was fine, parked on flat ground while running it was fine but when taking right corners it started smelling bad of gas, on left corners if was much better, then parked on lhs sloping ground and it poured out from gas tank area under rear lhs passenger seat area, so ran tank right down and ran it on about 1/4 tank all way home!

Now to find the real hole, crack, break or damage.

Thank you very much for all this info.

MRRREX

 

Just lift up the left rear seat (just pops up) and you'll see the access plate.

Probably someone changed the pump or cleaned the filter, and left the locking ring loose....

 

Hi there, thanks to all the replies and to some of the other info online and You Tube video tutorials I pulled the LHS rear seat cushion and unscrewed the rear cover to expose the fuel tank, fuel pump and hoses etc., to find that someone had already had a go at the locking ring and locking tabs with a hammer and 'God only knows' what else!, as there were scatterred bits of broken locking ring fins all over the place and there is a big repair right where one of the ring lock tabs used to be..., that is where i have tracked the leak to so far.

On reading some of the threads here and elsewhere it is possible I understa.nd to plastic weld the tanks as they do plastic bumpers etc, they still use a heat gun, bit like a fancy hair dryer so unsure about whether or not I to remove tank and empty/flush it our for this or might as well rplace the whole tank and get new lock ring and reinstall as new without crappy repairs.

Also looks to be leaking under locking ring between ring and pump top where it is wettish and reddish looking, (see pics.)

More to follow as I dig into it all however thank you for this site and the feedback and comments.

Maybe this will help someone else.

Good tutorial video on You Tube How to remove fuel pum, see:



Might need one or even do one soon on removal and replacement of gas tank!

Thank you.

 

The Oring on the cap was probably just destroyed when the other person presumably replaced the pump. I would try a new ring-screw before replacing the tank, it should come with a new O-ring and only cost like $50-60

 

I removed the panel and there was gas on top of the fuel pump housing. What does this mean?

 

How much gas did it had in tank? Above 1/4, I think it's normal. If I understand you correctly.

 

it means you have a safety issue that needs to be repaired asap before the car catches fire and burns down. Either the pump o-ring seal at the tank is leaking, the pump discharge elbow is cracked or broken and leaking, the fuel line connection to the pump discharge elbow is leaking, or the nylon fuel line there is leaking. All of those except for the pump o-ring seal at the tank are leaks caused by pump pressure. cleaning that all up and getting it dry, then cycling the fuel pump on and off with the ignition key or jumping the fuel pump circuit using the service manual procedure to force it on continuously should create enough fuel pressure for any of those things to leak and help you determine if one of them is the problem. If it’s the pump O-ring seal at the tank, that usually will show up driving around over bumps or g-loads around turns as the fuel in the tank splashes around and out past the bad seal.