Under scuttle petrol tank leak

[Biddlecombe]

I thought that you may like to learn of my experience with my leaky petrol tank. Being a real newbie and having a weep coming from the side of the tank, not noticed until I put in 2 gallons of petrol and raised the level to the weep point, I searched on line for a repair shop. I found one fairly local who said he could fix it for £100. Well I knew no better and took the tank for soldering. After a week I had to chase a  promised 2 day turnround and finally collected. It looked a rough repair and so it turned out, it still leaked although not from the exact spot that had been soldered. Gary Edwards suggested that I try Tapox as he had a successful experience with the product. I ordered up and removed the tank again. The detailed instructions filled me with trepidation as it seemed it would take a week of various tasks. Wash it out, dry it thoroughly, derust it, thoroughly dry it with a 0.2 - 0.4 bar continous airflow through the tank for 5 hours, without a trace of an electric spark in the vicinity, luckily we had an airbed inflator so with a piece of hosepipe attached and tucked behind the garage door I managed to get through this part. Then fill with the 2 part product, splash it around and drain it out, and then allow to dry for 5 days in a temperature not below 20 degrees C. Well on the coldest week of the winter so far that was a bit of a challenge, how I got away with 5 days in the laundry room in front of the heater unit I will never know! Now to add a pint of petrol and check the colour, all good, no trace of red Tapox. Check for leaks, bugger, still weeping from the side panel. Although Tapox will stop rusting it is fairly thin and does not seem to fill up pin prick holes. The Tapox delivery was however delivered with a complimentary pack of Quick steel 2 part epoxy. I moulded a small amount and applied it to the outside skin of the tank, thinking that this would be better looking like a repair and paint it over, after all the car is old and looks it! Repairs I thought were inevitable and I don't mind too much. So this long saga over, all is good, Quick steel is it appears a very good product, very sandable after setting, and hopefully the inside has been preserved with the Tapox and won't get worse.
P. S. I have no association with this product, I speak only as a user of it.

[Nigel Ricardo]

I have used Slosh in the past but with this new petrol it's not very compatible, this time around with a pin holed bottom of my tank I bought a 2 pack epoxy fuel tank repair for 5 gallon motorcycle tanks from Ebay , it works perfectly after 24 hours curing , only thing I had to do was remove the bung and drill a hole through the set off epoxy to allow fuel to reach the pick up

[Bill Sheehan]

I have used Slosh in the past but with this new petrol it's not very compatible, this time around with a pin holed bottom of my tank I bought a 2 pack epoxy fuel tank repair for 5 gallon motorcycle tanks from Ebay , it works perfectly after 24 hours curing , only thing I had to do was remove the bung and drill a hole through the set off epoxy to allow fuel to reach the pick up

Obviously Biddlecombe solved his problem, but I'd suggest others check around before buying any slosh-type sealant.  The previous owner of my 1952 Lanchester saloon had treated the tank to the latest slosh and I found that modern petrols destroyed it.  Sometimes I'd only go 100 yards before the tiny black specks would cause a sudden halt.  This despite the filter in the carb, a standard in-line filter and a modern-type filter I installed in line.  Worth checking re modern fuels.  Cheers,  Bill

[JonE]

No disrespect to Bill's car's previous owner, but its worth cross-referencing this thread to the other one on fixing a tank 4 months ago where the combined response rom some multiple users was that with modern Slosh, people were in general quite happy if it was done right.. (or rather, on the balance of lots of replies, I decided it was worth getting Slosh to "sort out" (sic) a particularly expensive-to-sort re solder job). I must admit, I'd like to try the epoxy route Nigel mentioned and wondered why I hadn't seen that option at the time.

[Biddlecombe]

JonENo disrespect to Bill's car's previous owner, but its worth cross-referencing this thread to the other one on fixing a tank 4 months ago where the combined response rom some multiple users was that with modern Slosh, people were in general quite happy if it was done right.. (or rather, on the balance of lots of replies, I decided it was worth getting Slosh to "sort out" (sic) a particularly expensive-to-sort re solder job). I must admit, I'd like to try the epoxy route Nigel mentioned and wondered why I hadn't seen that option at the time.

Jon, I can't speak too highly of Quick Steel epoxy. Once I realised how easy it is use and mold in your hands and then sand to a good finish. I didn't drill holes or anything, just pushed it firmly around the thin pin pricks area and smoothed it out, let it dry and sanded it off, painted over.

   

   

Before pics as this.

   

   

[Hedd_Jones]

the scuttle tank on my saloon was holed through rust on the back (the bit facing the scuttle). I cleaned, and put a gob of plastic padding liquid metal over the hole.

That cured the leak. But I also subsequently used a slosh sealer to isolate the epoxy from the fuel.

That was 20years ago in the spring. I run no filter and generally only have issues with dirt when I have introduced them from cans.