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Hey everyone,
I'm super excited as I just bought my first packard. This excitement quickly faded as I just discovered gasoline dribbling out of the filler neck/gas cap after filling the gas tank. When the tank was less than half full I never experienced the issue. Then after filling the tank full and driving it home I niticed the gas dribbling out all over the drive. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The first thought is if you still have the original cap, has the old gas cap gasket surface material hardened or shrunk and can no longer fit tightly against the fill pipe surface properly for a good seal.

Second thought is a replacement cap might be the wrong one.

Third possibility is a controversy that started a few years ago when replacement gas tanks hit the market. Some of those have a deep groove across the sealing surface that might be a perfect spot for a gas leak because of fuel seeping in the groove between the gasket and sealing surface. Take a look at the photo in this post and compare with yours. Apparently according to Fred some years had grooves and some years did not with the depth of the groove being another unanswered question. Let us know if your tank has the groove or if the surface is smooth.

Or a 4th possibility, a combination of an overfilled (to the brim) tank, a very short drive home, and parked in the hot sun. Simple thermal expansion.

G'day Karlyn(54Packard415),
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '54 Clipper in the Packard Owner's Registry.

When I bought my '54 it had a tune fish can over the gas cap to knock the splash away from staining the fender.

Wasn't there a fellow in Europe with the same issue a year ago . . . Mike's 53 Clipper?

See this thread:

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... at&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=580

dp

My '54 Convertible has the same condition when filled with gas on a hot, sunny day. A new gas cap made no difference in my case. As O_D points out it is thermal expansion. I have found that the car needs to be driven around ten miles or so after being filled to the brim in warm weather. That will lower the fuel level enough to compensate for the thermal expansion.

I am still using the thick aluminum/plastic foil can. That keeps the gas off the Fender, but I am still loosing some fuel. I got a spare tank, but have not tried it yet.
Can is easy and effective.