My '95 YJ has a hole in the plastic gas tank. (I have a new gas tank and Kilby skid plate on order but need to get this thing going right away for wheeling on Sunday.) The current state is: gas tank dry, hole drilled and tapped, a bolt can be threaded in and tightened a bit. I'm going to use Gas and Oil Seal All, which has worked great for me in the past. The question is: Do you think putting teflon on the bolt will help seal or would it be better to just put the Seal All on the bolt and screw it in? Any other recommendations?
The teflon tape is only a lubricant so the fitting can be tightened tighter easily, it is not a sealant and can actually cause leaks if too much is used.
The seal-all may hold OK if it doesn't get bumped.
Thanks Mike, I really wanted your opinion on this. It had a smaller bolt in it before and I sealed it up with strips of paper towel soaked in seal-all, did not drain the tank that time. It worked very well until it got bumped. This time, with the tank drained, it should work a bit better.
What about wrapping some string on the threads? This is a plumber trick used here in Mexico for water pipes, works well for that but I don't know with gasoline and a plastic tank...
The seal all will stick to the threads nice, so I would soak the bolt in it, then just finger tighten it up. It will fill a fair gap. I sealed up a front center split in an oil pan so big I could see the crank inside with the stuff.
If the threads are loose enough to strip with my fingers on the bolt, then I would think on up sizing, but as mentioned, seal-all will fill.
Thanks Mike, I really wanted your opinion on this. It had a smaller bolt in it before and I sealed it up with strips of paper towel soaked in seal-all, did not drain the tank that time. It worked very well until it got bumped. This time, with the tank drained, it should work a bit better.
What about wrapping some string on the threads? This is a plumber trick used here in Mexico for water pipes, works well for that but I don't know with gasoline and a plastic tank...
--- --- --- String would be worse than teflon tape. String works great with water for a temporary repair. The water gets in it and it swells up. It is not a permanent repair. I don't know about string and gasoline. Heh, it might dissolve the string or make it shrink.
The tank is made of polyethylene (polythene Br.) and can be welded. Much less heat is used than for steel or aluminum even. A soldering pencil is probably about right. If you find a piece of polyethylene you could weld it on there and it would be as good as new. Don't attempt this on my say-so. Get a real article on the subject first.
I have used fiberglass reinforced body filler (Bondo-Hair or the like) on the bottom of a metal tank and it worked for years. I don't know about a polythene tank. Maybe if you roughed the tank up a bit with coarse sand paper. Bumping the tank again would be bad though.
Thanks Earle. I've pretty much decided to go with just seal-all on the bolt for now. Once the new tank and skid plate arrive I might try the soldering and if it works well, then sell the repaired tank and original skid plate to recover some costs.
Use only the Seal-all! It will leak like hell if you use teflon-anything. Teflon tape should only be used only for fittings that must be un-fitted later.
Thanks. Got it done last night but still haven't put gas in the tank. Will probably find out how well it worked on Saturday. It should be fine, with the bolt alone, no seal-all, it would just drip a bit.
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