hole in petrol tank...

what is the best stuff to patch a hole in a petrol tank ?

Reply to
Jim GM4 DHJ ...
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You can't. Any MOT tester worth his salt will spot it. When my Mk 1 astra petrol tank started leaking from the seams it cost me £50 to have it lined with something at a company in Brighton, plus the cost of removal and replacement.

Reply to
Andrew

Can you please cite a section of the MOT test that would fail a repaired fuel tank? One that has no holes and no leaks.

Crossposted to uk.rec.cars.maintenance

Reply to
Fredxx

depends how good the repair is I suppose.....

Reply to
Jim GM4 DHJ ...

The correct way is to remove the tank, fully empty it, purge it with steam and then weld a suitable patch of steel at the site of the hole. Not a cheap process.

Reply to
Cursitor Doom

I'd silver solder - being advertised on FB etc as easy home "welding". All you need is a plumbers propane torch. Flows better and much less chance of a porous weld or pinholes.

Steam is supposed to heat remaining fuel in seams and drive it out. Takes time and time is money. Steam condenses leaving the tank damp and draws air in.

Better and quicker to fill with CO2, fuel vapour can't ignite in CO2. It's denser than air so will fill the tank. Should be available in any any good welding shop, home brewing supplies, fire extinguisher.

None of this works when the filler cap comes off with the rusty filer neck attached on your Niece's Micra. Lucky the filler pipe was separate to the tank and joins to the tank by rubber tube. Scrappy £10, only one good one out of 5 cars, so I think this one had been replaced in last 5 years. E-bay £50 s/h. Nissan new well over £100.

Reply to
Peter Hill

I'm going to bite. There are so many materials labelled as silver solder. In the electronics industry it is sometimes use to include tin/silver alloys with a melting point lower than tin but often still higher than eutectic tin/lead. It will often have small amounts of copper.

Brazing rods can include silver but these are devilishly expensive. Standard brazing rods less so. Propane can get a lump of steel up to temperature but has to be a good lamp.

I thought the normal way to repair steel was to use tin/lead bars, with a composition a little away from eutectic so to enter a paste stage?

Water and tanks sound a bad combination for future rust. Another way is to fill the tank with water and displace the fuel. I guess that become a disposal issue for a business.

Sometimes used in boats and other places where heat is applied and to prevent fires from starting.

More painfully I've come across tanks that are £450 from a third party where second hand is still in the £200 region.

Reply to
Fredxx

To silver solder, you need a decent torch, especially for a large work piece.

I doubt a DIY plumbers torch would do the job.

(That is besides the safety issues - while you mention purging the tank it really isn?t a DIY job, especially for a corner cutter.)

Reply to
Brian Reay

you mean me then?...yes I'm cheap...tee hee.....the new tank is working well done about 500 miles on it now.....the hole in the old one was getting bigger and bigger....gave up any thoughts of further repair

Reply to
Jim GM4DHJ ...

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