sprung a leak the other day after hearing something bang under rear of car....got home to find half a tank full disappeared. managed to catch a bin full of the stuff and can see the small puncture hole quite easily accessible from underneath. any easy ways of sealing this? I very busy at the mo and cant spend much time fixing it so was thinking of getting a local garage to sort it for me...any idea of cost? anyone had this happen to them?
ta!
Steve
R P McMurphey ( snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Did you not see the rock or brick?
Oh, dear. Let's hope all that spilled diseasel didn't cause too many accidents.
Replace the tank with a good used one. If it's something unusual and unavailable, get it welded. But replacement will be quicker and cheaper.
Any idea of what car you drive?
No...or i would have avaoided it!
lets hope,being a biker this was my first thought!
yes i think its a Citroem XM...erm..2.1td...hatchback of 1995 vintage.
steve ;-)
Have look at this web site:
Norman
R P McMurphey ( snipped-for-privacy@ntlworld.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
If you'd have done this last week, you could have had the tank out of the '95 petrol turbo XM that I broke. The shell was crushed last week...
Given that it's a plastic tank, you can knock welding off the list. You need to replace it.
Drain tank completely..... Hammer up slightly at point of puncture (this prevents fluid coming down)... clean really well with 40 grit sandpaper...... degrease with clean PETROL....... a product called "JB WELD"... a two pack resin..... mix a small amount and seal the hole first.....let dry (10 mins) mix a larger amount and apply over the first filling... let dry.... apply again over until the depression is level.... I have sealed a lot of tanks with this method......
1..... Clean area 2......dent in puncture 3....... degrease 4....... apply JB Weld in layers.
Petrapatch from a car shop
failing that a mate of mine stuck a half chewed toffo on a hole in his tank and it lasted 8 months
What a waste of a good Toffo!
Gareth
aparently the tank is plastic...does it work on placy too?
steve
was it any particular flavor?
steve
The message from "R P McMurphey" contains these words:
Petrol.
No good for a derv tank, then
Rob Graham
Yup! I'll go with that advice! JB Weld is the absolute Bees Knees!
I repaired a cylinder head with it several years ago. The C/H gasket had blown from #4 cylinder to the outside world and the metal of the head had eroded (although I didn't notice at the time of reassembly with a new C/H gasket!). Two months later - gasket goes again!
Whips head off to find metal significantly eroded at the same failure site as last time! Faced with a £300 cost for a new head, I browsed my local "car accessory shop" and discovered JB Weld.
Good for 600deg C. So I gunked it on the failure point of the head, waited
24 hours for it to set rock hard, and then flatted it smooth with 600 grade Wet and Dry on a block of wood.That head did another 45000 miles before I sold the car with no further problems!
JB Weld rocks!
Oh, Its good for petrol tanks (all types) too! Just follow the instructions
*to the letter* and DON'T force heat it to make it set quicker! It *really* takes 24 hours to set!I've also used it. I repaired a main bearing cap where the thrust washer had disappeared allowing the web of the crank to take off metal. It was either that or scrap the engine (3-cyl Perkins diesel). That was 4 years ago.
I noticed a previous poster said it dried in 10 mins. As far as I was concerned it slowly went off over about 2 days. The temperature was as you get in March.
Rob Graham
Hi Adrian
Why, plastic tanks can be welded also. How do you think it was made in the first place?.
Just forget about arc-welding then!!
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required