DMCH Fuel Sender wont seal. What is this tab for?!

[Nicholas R]

I have been smelling gas whenever I accel or fill up so I wanted to make sure all the hoses and seals were good. Looks like my DMCH fuel sender isn't sealing. It's got the rubber gasket that goes around it but there's this weird little tab sticking off the top ring of the fuel sender that just sits on the lip of the gas tank. There's a slot for it in the gasket but it's still longer than the gasket is thick. I have tried but the tab will NOT go into the hole in the tank, it always sits on the lip of the hole.

Is there a reason for this tab? I'm think about just pulling the fuel sender out and grinding the little tab off. Anyone else seen this?

Pic:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/3496/img00965201107292316.jpg

[Nicholas R]

So I just noticed there's actually a notch in the lip of the fuel tank, certainly makes sense. Cap still wouldn't really tighten all the way down though. Hand tight certainly didn't seal it. Lubed the threads a little and used a strap wrench so hopefully I've got it tight enough to where it wont leak gas anymore.

[Chris 16409]

It is kind of a pain to get the notch into the hole in the gasket. Sometimes it's easier to set the gasket into the mouth of the tank first, and then then set the sender in place. I've gotten to get the notch to slide into pace. A strap wrench is a good idea. I used some large channel locks, but the strap wrench is a a good choice because it wind eat up the plastic ring.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I used a little synthetic grease on the plastic threads and that let me tighten it by hand.

[WelmoedJ]

The tab is supposed to keep the sender unit from turning while fastening the ring nut.
Otherwise the rubber seal could be destroyed.

I agree it's very difficult to get the tab to stay in its lock in the tank.

In the past I have noticed that over-filling the tank also causes leaks along the wires of the fuel sender unit, even if the ring nut/rubber seal doesn't leak.

[sean]

IIRC, the new DMCH units were/are a tad to tall. You are going to want to contact them about it for sure incase they have fixed the problem. I believe their "solution" is to loosen the fuel tank closing plate bolts to allow the tank to drop a bit and allow you to tighten the sender all the way down.