Fuel Tank leaking

[boxer_inv]

Hi guys from OZ

Seems "Dorothy" has sprung a leak from her fuel tank...

I knew that Dad had to patch her tank before she was shipped over to me and when I first inspected the tank briefly, the patch seemed all good.

However, I went out yesterday and immediately noticed a large damp patch under the tank. Seems that the patch on the tank has now failed.

I have a very basic question for you - how to most easily drain the tank??

The tank is full - 60 litres or so.

I know I can try to siphon it out into one of our other cars, but I'm thinking that there should be a drain plug on the tank? Trouble is, the tank is pretty dirty and I can't tell whether what I think is a plug, is actually a plug (if that makes any sense).

Given that copious quantities of fuel will come out if I'm wrong and stuff something up, I thought I'd get some advice from you guys first!

Any suggestions?

Also, looks like I might need to get a new tank, unless someone can suggest another long-term effective repair.

Thanks in advance

Rob-OZ

[Plymouthy Adams]

even with a drain plug...after all these years they mostly are pretty rusted up and usually rip out the tank prior to lossening at the threads..tread careful..you should be able to drop your fuel line (don't lose the ferrule) and drain the tank..

[NatesSedan]

If you have an electric pump laying around that is a nice easy way to do it.

[Olddaddy]

I would siphon the fuel out with a cheap transfer pump, most auto supply shops have a hand operated one. Also Grainger or Tractor Supply might have them. I would not use an electric one, you know, gas + spark = boom. Personally I will not patch an old tank. I've done it and regretted it every time. I spent more on repairing my original tank than the replacement tank cost and it was made to order and bigger to boot! If originality is important to you it will cost you. If holding gas safely is all that matters you can locate a later model tank in a salvage yard and fit it in place. Or, as I did have one welded up that fits the space available.

[james curl]

What ever you do don't put the gasoline in an open container because the fumes will fall down the outside of the container and spread out along the floor if done inside just waiting for a spark to blow up. I know of three people who burned their gararge and their car up usinging open containers. One from a dropped trouble light that burst, one from a gas water heater lighting off, and a automotive engineer who after washing his race car down outside, brought it back inside, saw a crack in one of the tubes, got out his gas torch, struck a flame and was amazed to watch the flame race across the garage floor to the two open five gallon cans in the corner, lost every thing including his shoes which he ran out of the garage.

[JIPJOBXX]

Your car probably holds 16 gallons of fuel and if you really wanted to be on the cheap side just do it the old fashion way by siphoning with a hose. But first of all you need to get at least 4 four five gallon plastic jugs and use them to store your fuel in. Just get a plastic clear hose and run it down into the tank and hold the end with your tumb and pull the hose back out and empty into one of your fuel containers.

[greg g]

Also very important. On the fitting of the line to gas tank connection there is a ferrul in the connection. Its confirmed habit is to liberate itself and scurry to the deepest darkest corner of your shop. So be very mindfull of this when you take it apart. It is about the size of a pencil eraser. It acts like the crush collar in a compression fitting and makes seal in the fitting.

Ok now the shadetree quick fix. I had a car with numerous pin hole leaks in the tank. I used a selftapping sheet metal screw with a rubber and nylon washer on it. rubber to tank nylon to spread the rubber. Cleaned the area of the leak with a brass wire brush (no sparks) to get the loose rust scale off.

then topped off the repair with a dollop of epoxy.

[Norm's Coupe]

I drained my leaking tank with a hand type pump. Instead of taking a chance on tearing out the bottom of the tank when trying to loosen the drain plug, I removed the sender and pumped it out of there into a 5 gallon gas can. Doesn't take long after you get it started. Once started you can walk away and come back later after it's all drained.

[Don Coatney]

Once started you can walk away and come back later after it's all drained.

I would not recommend doing this. What if the can is not large enough to hold all the gas?

[dezeldoc]

If ya want a quick tempoary fix rub a bar of soap on it and it will stop the leak.

[John Mulders]

I would not recommend doing this. What if the can is not large enough to hold all the gas?

I guess it will overflow

[Norm's Coupe]

I would not recommend doing this. What if the can is not large enough to hold all the gas?

Well...........it does take a while for it to drain. You don't forget about it entirely. You can do something else while it's draining instead of watching it slowly drain out. One should be swift enough to check back on it while its draining. Plus, by removing the sender, you can shine a flashlight into the tank and see approximately how much gas is in there before starting. Or, get a ruler and measure how deep the gas is. It's less mess that way than it is removing the plug.

In addition, if the tank is badly rusted inside you could end up with a real mess by trying to remove the plug. That plug could be rusted in so bad that when you try to loosen it, you break whats left of the tank around the plug, and then it will leak all over the place, not where you want it to go.

[wills 51]

I used J.B weld and so far so good..

[Arkansawer]

Yeah JB Weld works great. Get some J.B weld and find out where its leaking and then fill in the small hole. They also have JB Marine or something like that, it works inside water and stuff and swells up to fill in the hole better.

[Normspeed]

I used JB Weld on a little seepage leak on the side of my tank. Fixed it when the tank was nearly empty, sanded the spot, cleaned with a little acetone, and put a thin layer on there. I let it cure very well, 2 days, before I topped up the tank. Doing fine, been maybe 2 years or more.

[boxer_inv]

Guys

Thanks very much for all of the suggesions. I've got plans to drain the tank this weekend and have a decent look at the hole.

I'm not sure whether JB Weld is available in OZ, but I'd like to give that go for a start I think.

Keep you posted on how I go...

Rob.

[boxer_inv]

Quick update,

Went to the auto store this morning and got some tank sealer putty - DynaGrip "QuikSteel".

After reading up the directions, I elected not to worry about draining the tank as the product was supposed to adhere despite any petrol still in the area of the leak.

Set about removing the previous patch, which looked like this...

The previous patch was a fairly broad affair and underneath the top putty was some plastecine type compound, presumably from the previous repair product.

Cleaned up the area a little with scraper and wire brush and I ascertained that the leak was around only one corner seam of a large square patch that had been previously welded to the tank.

In this pic you can see the petrol leak forming around that corner...

Then used the putty compound as per directions and set it about the seam, gradually using more to get a decent patch. After getting it on and seeing it start to set, I noticed that there was a type of bubble forming in the compound - pressed it and petrol started to seep out. After muttering a few well chosen words, I got my rag and pressed very, very firmly over the compound to squeeze the petrol out and the patch firmer against the tank steel. And...it worked! No more leaking, no bubbles and the patch seemed to adhere well to the tank and particularly at the edges, which I smoothed out as best I could.

End result...

Thus far - about 1/2 day - no sign of any leak, lifting or failure of the patch. Fingers crossed it holds.

If nothing else, this patch is more inconspicuous and a little neater than the last?

Thanks for all your advice and assistance guys - very much appreciated. I'm quite proud (so far!!) of my first "repair" on "Dorothy" since I got her.

[BobT-47P15]

Someone welded or used JB Weld to attach a couple pennies over holes in

the bottom of my tank. Have probably been there for 10 years or more.

No idea just how they were stuck on. Think the son-in-law may have done it when

he had the car quite a few years back.

[Normspeed]

Boxer, I hope it holds up. Great photos. Sure looks better than the first patch. If it fails, I would try the same product but let the tank get nearly empty and jack up the car by one corner so there's no chance of gas seepage, and wipe down the surface with acetone.

I think that first patch was done by the same guys that recently did some muffler work on my Bronco:D