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gas tank repair

GrimmJeeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Gardena, CA
well i finally decided today to do something about my seeping gas tank. its been dripping slowly for the past month or so, ever since my last time out wheeling. it drips about once every half hour or so, leaves a nice stain in the street.

so i figured maybe a pinhole from a rock or something that got stuck between the factory plastic tank cover and the tank. dropped the tank today to fix it and it started gushing all over the place. when i finally got the tank dropped and pulled the plastic skid off i found a rock about 3/4 inch with one pointy end jammed into the tank! it stabbed a hole about 1/4 inch wide in the tank and i guess the plastic cover held just enough pressure on it to slow the leak.

so anyways i got a stick of "instant gas tank repair" at napa. its like JB weld but its designed to work with gas i guess. you knead it together to activate it and press it into place and it sticks to the metal and plugs the hole. i was skeptical because the gas was pouring out so fast, but it actually stopped it. this stuff works great. i only used about half of the stick and i will be keeping this stuff in my toolbox from now on, just in case.

not really tech just thought i'd share, something that actually does what its supposed to is getting rare these days :D

-mike
 
dzraces said:
as long as you prep it right that stuff works well, last year at HDR I used it and it held fine but it is only a temporary fix do not expect it to last forever

i dont, ive got a new tank that ben & russ say i can have, i just have to get out to west covina to get it and i dont think thats happening anytime soon :D

i found i already have a patch on the top of the tank too where the previous owner drilled into it, probably to mount a subwoofer:confused1
 
I used that stuff for a pinhole leak on my tank due to rust, and it held for a few weeks before I got around to replacing it with a new tank. I was very happy with the repair. If it was due to a rock or puncture, and not rust, I would have left it and ran it longer. I can't speak for actually how long the stuff lasts, but it seems like a great item to keep in the rig while you're on the trail. The stuff I had was made by Permatex and marketed as gas tank and radiator repair.

On a somewhat related note: When I first found the leak and didn't have the putty, I had to figure out something to last a 2 hour drive home and a buddy told me to use a bar of soap. I thought he was crazy, but if you take a bar of soap and rub it over the hole real well, it actually works. My luck ran out when I hit a fluke rainstorm on the drive, but it lasted 5 minutes and I re-applied the soap at a rest stop. :)
 
ive seen the soap too, a buddy of mine used it to fix a rust pinhole on a escort he had just bought.. it worked good enough for us to drive it 150miles back home :D

as for how long this stuff lasts, as i said there was a patch on top of the tank that looks to be made of the same stuff, that was from the previous owner, and ive had the jeep for 5 years. so its been at least that long and its holding good. i tried to peel it off cause i figured while i had the tank out i might as well re-patch it, but it wouldnt budge.

my stuff is made by permatex too, just repackaged for napa, its the same stuff
 
dzraces said:
as long as you prep it right that stuff works well, last year at HDR I used it and it held fine but it is only a temporary fix do not expect it to last forever
I did a lot of prep work on mine: Drop the tank, find a tiny hole, make it bigger for the putty, sand, squish a heathy plug through the enlarged hole. After the stuff set up I sealed it with some spray paint.

It has been temporarily working fine since 1994. It only holds liquid for the top quarter-tank. It would leak down to 3/4 before the repair.

YMMV
 
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