Fuel Tank Leak

My wife filled up the tank of her Jeep Cherokee yesterday only to discover that we have a leak in the tank somewhere. I tried locating it but it seems to be coming from somewhere at the top of the tank. I cant imagine a crack in the tank itself, those plastic tanks are fairly thick.

If I had to guess, its coming from where the fuel pump goes into the tank. But I cant tell if its from a connection there or anything like that. It eventually stopped and I or her have not noticed a leak before. We've only had the thing a couple months now but as far as I know she has never filled the tank up so full.

So I thought I would check and see if this is a common problem and if there is some type of fix or if anyone has had this issue before. It would seem that if we keep the fuel level below a certain point it wont leak out, but any fuel leak is a serious one and Id like to take care of it.

I havent checked, but I dont suppose life would be easy and there would be access to the pump from the hatch area? Or will I have to drop the tank to get a look at that?

Any help is much appreciated.

Yep, you have to drop the tank to look at the fuel pump. I want to say I've read before to replace that seal when you get a new pump. Could be that the P.O. had the pump replaced and didnt do this...?

I suppose anything is possible, I dont know the previous history on the vehicle other than the owner brought it in for a transmission rebuild. They then proceeded to the Casino and blew all their money they had for the tranny rebuild. Shop rebuilt the tranny, got a mechanics lein and then put it up for sale which is where I came in.

The inside of it needed a LOT of work, mainly cleaning. PO had kids and apparently the Jeep was their playground/sand box/trash bin. The only thing that doesnt look as good as I would like is the carpet, we got everything else cleaned up with a lot of work, cleaner, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (Those things are FANTASTIC at cleaning pourus surfaces).

Anyway, we got 'er cleaned up, and she shifts fantastically, runs great, no noises nothing.

Anyway, back on point. Geesh, I went to the next room by way of Alaska. Would I be able to lower the tank enough to get to that seal without having to drop the tank completely?

My 98 developed a leak (crack) where the filler neck and the tank itself come together. My first clue was that I kept throwing the CEL. Dealership was baffled at first, as they had a hard time locating it, given the location of the leak. It wasn't until I had smelled a faint hint of gas around the tailgate area. My XJ was only a week old when that developed but the warranty took care of that.

Though not common, I guess it could happen, since it happened to me.

Well I have not thrown any CEL's, though, now that you mention it, I am surprised at that. Any leak in that area I would think trip the CEL with something along the line of a P0441 code.