smell of petrol spells expensive problem...

Hi all,

smell of petrol in my garage eventually identified as coming from my XJ.

It appears that the pinholes by the bottom seam that I thought I'd fixed with resin are now seeping out a small amount of fuel - some many months after the respray and new graphics. This is starting to dissolve the paint/lacquer at the rear of the tank and ruining a really nice paintjob - Bollocks!

Nige

 

Proof that fixes like that are just temporary. Lots of shielding and some quick oxy welding and you can seal that up real quick.

 

Your in the Land where there is an abundance of Breakers who might have just what the Doctor ordered for you.

Your also located where the possibility of finding a talented Craftsman who is a highly proficient Metalworker skilled in "Lead-loading" might be able to save your Tank.

Depending on what you have too deal with.

 

Thanks guys. Repair is the favoured option, though I'll have to do some stripping-back of paint first.

The original holes (which are tiny) didn't show up until I stripped the tank back to metal for the respray. Petrol didn't get through the original paint.

 

There is an "Old School" Do It Yourself trick we Colonists have that might interest you.

We can use Copper One-Cent pieces. "Penny's" ... minted before 1982, as a "Penny Pinhole Patch"

Easily hammered and shaped, ... then sanded and shined ... a Penny can be "Sweated" onto the Tank, over the Pinhole and stop the leak until another one pops-up.

 

I had a corolla in the 90s that had a small dent on bottom dead center of gas tank. I realized it when it finally rusted enuf thru to leak. Walked out of work with a stinking 8 ft wet spot under the car.

The fix: drained gas (well, the hole did it for me), parked at steep angle forward, carefully sanded the area clean with emory cloth (no sparks), applied nice size glob of JB Weld, applied large piece of duct tape to hold it there (small amount of gas was still dripping thru the JB, but the tape kept it in place).

24 hrs later, it was drip free, with a JB Weld wart as hard as a rock.

Might be an option for u.

 

Jb Weld only works for so long.
I did the JB Weld job on my CB's tank. One hole lasted 3 years, The other hole has been a constant issue after only 6 months of repair.

If you use jb weld to plug a hole in your fuel tank. You will also want to consider using a tank sealer. Gas will eventually work its way under the jb weld.

Ghost

 

Damn Rick, how old ARE you? This is a trick I have never heard of.

 

I still use the "penny" repair on lawnmowr tanks. Works great. Its is getting hard to find real copper pennies.
I had a boat many years ago and funds were mostly low. That tank had quite a few pennies holding the gas in. After using that boat for 20 years they were sitll there. Pennies are not a 'fix' but a perminate repair.

 

Have ordered some JB Weld and will try it with that - should work, if I can get all the resin off first and get back to bare metal.

 

BTW...

What is this "penny" repair technique - more details if poss.
Presume any copper would work - but you can't solder copper to steel.

Nige

 

Have gone down the JB Weld route... seems to have done the trick. Thanks for the help.

 

If you line your tank with POR15, their kits usually come with a pinhole patch to repair these. May be worth your time to consider, before throwing a ton of jb weld on it and making a lot of body work should you ever want it nice and shiny again.