Fuel tank leak

Old forum posts ending on Oct 21 '09

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K31
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:35 am
Location: Central Plains

Fuel tank leak

Post by K31 »

This weekend I decided to fix the seep at the bottom rear of my fuel tank using a fiberglass and epoxy patch sold by NAPA for fixing leaking fuel tanks. The seep became a drip during the prep, so I waited until the tank had stopped draining and applied it. The epoxy didn't cure, so I took it off again and re-prepped the spot. This time the hole grew to the size of a wooden pencil lead, and the drip became a stream. After completely draining the tank and ensuring the hole and surrounding area were completely dry, I filled the hole with the supplied mastic from a new kit, applied a new patch and epoxy and let cure for 24 hours. After it dried I added enough gas to get to the gas station. At about 14 gallons, the patch began leaking again.

I obviously need to try a different approach. Any ideas? I looked through the threads about "red death," and saw several references to tank welding and to tank sealers. Can this be done with the tank installed, or must it be removed? Does welding a spot affect the red coating? If I need to remove the tank, what replacement items should I have on hand to minimize Murphy's Law?
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