humax300

I've got a weeping petrol leak where the outlet of the fuel delivery stub exits the petrol tank on a VN Commodore. I've been to the local speed shop and they recommended some 2 pack epoxy,the stuff you sqeeze together and then try and place around the outlet pipe. It dosn't seem to be that affective as i think its more useful for holes so it can penatrate and plug up bigger type holes. There must be something like silastic that I can apply around the pipe that seals onto the metal and stops the leak. My last resort is to solder the pipe onto the tank but its not that easy working upside down under the car and I don't want to take the tank off...anyone have any ideas what would more user friendly.

rob916

Maybe try fibreglass, be better if you could lay some resin on the split and maybe some matting, make sure you clean it all with acetone ( Find out if acetone reacts with fuel first, I do not know).
The thing is that it split at a stress/movement point and no matter what you do now, even solder( unless you weld and reinforce it) it will probably do it again.

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Godzilla

What ever you go DONT solder it.

Just some vapours in the tank and your toast.

You would have to remove the tank, empty the fuel, rinse it afew times with water, then solder (more like braze), then flush with metho before adding fuel back in.

In the past ive used liquid metal, a 2 part epoxy that works well. The stuff is so strong that ive used it to repair damage on the block head gasket surface from corrosion in the water jacket passages without having to remove the engine, strip it down and redeck it.

Ive also seen putty type bandages that can be used specificly for fuel tank leaks.

Try supercheap auto, auto one or autobahn, they tend to carry a larger range of products.

I think your best bet is to ring afew wreakers or if you want to save even more money visit one that alows you to pull the part off yourself, and get another tank.
I think my local pick-a-part has them for only $60.

Just out of curiosity is the outlet on the tank sender unit on VN's? If it is (as many cars are) you could just get another sender unit.

pieces

Wouldnt waste my time patching .
Plenty of VNs at the wreckers stay away from LPG ones as they mostly have rust in them due to the owner not using petrol .

watchdog

I remember back in the seventees I used to drive between Newcastle & Sydney every Friday & Sunday night in A HK Station Waggon that had a two inch exhaust system that rubbed on the petrol tank. Sure enough just before I was about to leave Sydney I discovered it was leaking. Being the lateral thinker that I am , I disconnected the fuel line at the pump, ran a bit of stolen garden hose from the pump , under the inner guard , up the outside of the passenger door & through the window to a 20ltr drum of petrol. This worked really good but I got to thinking about an empty petrol tank full of fumes & an exhaust system still banging away on it. A bit more thinking resulted in the idea that if I filled the tank with water then all would be good. At the first available servo I pulled in , whacked off the petrol cap , grabbed the hose & fill up with water. At the begining there were a couple of blokes giving me a bit of a "check out" & by the time I finished there were a couple of more out for a look. I honestly didn't realise what all the fuss was about until it clicked about 30 minutes latter. If I had realised at the time I could have pulled a couple of asprins out of the glovebox , thrown them in the tank & driven away. That would have given them something to talk about at the pub!

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Godzilla

ROFPMSL

Good one watchdog.

Tecom Master

i had a similar problem with a vh fuel tank. one of the pipes on the tank for the emmisions system was cracked around the base where it attached to the tank and actually leaked quite a bit. i used some stuff called kneed it which i think is what you were refering to in the first post. it held up for over 2 years. just make sure you give the surfaces a good clean up with sand paper first and if you can try and keep the fuel off of it for a couple of hours while it hardens.

anyone

i got stuck on the nt queensland border years ago due to a stone hole in the tank, the local copper told me to plug it with soap and filled me up with juice, made it to cairns without any more leaks, apparently the soap reacts to petrol and sets

humax300

I settled on using liquid metal,pumped out the petrol using the fuel pump,cleaned it up with emery paper and painted the epoxy on (I'm upside down under the car),seemed to work ok,thanks for all that responded.

DND

Godzilla got it right. To do it right you have to remove the tank.

"Silver solder" is the easyess way to fix it, or brazing.
just remember to empty the tank then full it to the top with water that will push all the vapors out "vapors= burny's "

oceanboy

McGyver used a chocolate bar to fix his leaking petrol tank.
He was actually on Nova FM yesterday arvo talking it.