Matt Macchiarolo proclaimed:
I would think it would depend on how friendly you are with the tank?
Old trick. Flip a burning match into a FULL container of gasoline. Means nothing, but you can spot the chemistry challenged folks who try it by their eyebrow wiglets.
How about a real-world test, flip a lit match into the filler of a "full" gas tank?
During the SR-71 program, when the planes were parked, they would leak fuel like a sieve, because the wing tanks weren't internally lined...the skin of the aircraft was the tank, and the fuel leaked through the expansion joints. At cruising speed, the expansion due to heat of the skin would close up the joints. If memory serves, the fuel was JP-7.
The engines used starting carts with Chevy or Buick big-block V8's to spin the turbines up to starting speed. One day, one of the start cart engines caught fire in the hangar, and a crewman simply broomed a big puddle of JP-7 over to the engine to put the flames out.
Try that with gasoline.
That example certainly sounds exciting except to those who know how JP-7 is designed to be ignited (and why)
Play fair...
Tee hee...
Carry a couple of packs of chewing gum on the trail ; that seals leaking petrol tanks amazingly.
Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ
For leaks small enough for chewing gum, a bar of soap works about as well.... nothing I'd care to count on. A tube of Dow quickset and a clean tin can lid [as a patch] on the other hand can last years.
Dave Milne proclaimed:
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