Well first, let me give you a little background. I drive a 1991 300e and this is only my second month of ownership, and I've done my fair share of audio installs. I've done at least 30-40 installs for friends or friends of friends. So I finally decided to scrape up some cash for my own system.

So I did, I went out and bought a power acoustik amp and a cheap single subwoofer to start out with. After a couple hours of wiring install, it was time to mount the amp.

In every single install I have done so far, I have mounted the amplifier on the back wall of the trunk, so obviously it was good choice for my car...... not. Those of you experienced with the w124 (unlike me) probably already know the problem (thank god there was no gas in the gas tank), but those of you that don't know what went wrong, read on.

So I wake up the next day, happy with my install, system sounds good, but I'm using an old box for the woofer, and decide to head up to the local shop to persuade him to give me one he dosent really care about or whatever. So me and a friend that helped me do the install get in the car and immediately smell an extremely strong gas odor, but we were too tired and hungry to care that much, so we drove on. My gas light turns on, so I go ahead and pull into a gas station and start pumpin gas. With the little bar that holds the handle set, I get back into the car to continue to listen to music, with just the battery. About 2 minutes into the fill-up, I hear 2 or 3 guys yellin at me "Hey You! You're leakin gas man!". So I get out of the car, thinkin the pump just overfilled, but to notice a giant puddle of gas around my feet. I get down on one knee to inspect the problem, only to notice gas gushing out of the water drain in the middle of the spare tire well. A nice guy helps me and my friend push the car across the lot into a vacant parking space without turing it on. 30 seconds later, a volunteer firefighter pulls up in a chevy suburban and starts yelling at everyone to clear the pumps and then runs in and hits the cut off switch for the pumps (It is still unknown on whether the fireman was there just by chance or whether the attendant had called the FD). 3 minutes later (pretty good response time) 2 fire engines come screaming down the 4 lane street towards the station and out come the fire fighters. They tape off the entire gas station and tell everyone to get out of there and start putting that kitty-litter gas absorbent stuff over the puddles. Then 4 police cars show up and completely block the 4 lane street, and i'm thinking to myself "what in the hell did I just do?" while they get things under control. I finally get to talk to the fire captain and we open the trunk together to find it flooded with gasoline. I manage to salvage the amp and the sub (both mounted above the floor) but nothing else.

So it turns out that to my suprise, maybe not yours, that the gas tank is in between the back wall of the trunk and the back seat. I have never seen a tank in this position in any of my installs, but then again this was my first Benz install.

So as a lesson to me, and anyone that doesn't know, if you plan on installing or having a system installed make sure you, or the shop knows where the gas tank is. If the tank was full I could have easily have ignited it with sparks from the drill, also when I turned the battery on to shift to neutral to push the car, I could have ignited the gas in my trunk with the amp, and the fireman also just "happened" to be there, so I had an extremely wide lucky streak. This experience was rather exciting in a way considering all the attention my car got, but I count my blessings considering I'm still alive, and I still have my car. I'm glad no one got hurt and thank the FD for their fast response.

P.S. I have acquired the new nickname "Mini-Valdeez" from my buddies, and am thinking about a personalized liscense plate now.

 

Wow... great story... I pretty much new where you were going early on.

So, what's the condition of the car? how much to repair?

 

Well the new tank + labor was 577.83. An expensive lesson to learn. I spent the day outside with some cleaner/degreaser scrubbing the trunk. The smell is still there but hopefully will be gone in a week or two. Good new is the system still works

 

Well. glad everything turned out ok.

For next time, consider getting a used part from salvage. Use this site

http://www.car-part.com

You could probably get a used tank for around $50 and either put it in yourself OR had someone do it.

 

You're lucky the partially empty tank diddn't blow when you drilled it. More risk of spark (dry) and also the presence of air which is needed for combustion.

Make that really lucky.

 

Yes I am very aware how lucky I am. I had an extremely wide lucky streak that day.