Pre Sva Petrol Leak Crisis

[Guest Trevor 2B]

SVA Monday - decided to get a couple of cans of petrol to top up the tank.

 

Then it all went pear shaped. :angry:

 

(RHE 30 litre tank, aero filler cap, flexi pipe onto original Sierra filler pipe (cut down) through Ford rubber gasket, all sealed with red hermitite)

 

Whilst filling with the first can noticed minor weap round rubber gasket. Decided to tighten up jubilee clip to seal it off properly.

 

Filling with second can leak was much worse (this was about 4 hours later). :gdit:

 

With SVA 35 hours away, do I

 

a - try and reseal the joints using the red hermitite (think tightening up clip moved sealant hence leak got worse).

 

b - use the 'leak fix' stuff I've got but which is rigid so will allow no flex.

 

c - arrive at SVA test then faint.

 

If my spelling is a bit orf I apologise as I am running on a combination of alcohol and evostick impact (trying to finish boot cover)

[Guest no1carmaddad]

Just a thought, when I took my 2b for sva filled up in the last garage before test centre it started to leak around the sender gasket. I remember some one saying don't fill it right to the brim just until the fuel gauge reads full. If it's just a small leak it will evoporate at the top of the tank. I drove around abit to lower the level and that did the trick, very worrying at the time.

[Big Jim]

don't use Hermatite or silicone, you need something that the petrol won't attack.

[Guest TerryBarry]

I'm assuming that the fuel is leaking from around the filler tube where it enters the tank.

The fuel filler hole on the Sierra tank is shaped to make it effectively ~3mm thick where the seal fits - the RH tank is about 0.8mm.

One possibility would be to fix another piece of, say 2mm aluminium on top of the RH tank opening to bring it up to the same thickness as the original.

HTH

May the SVA man smile on you

Terry

[Guest Captain Daz]

Trevor

 

Someone else said Liquid Metal from Halfords works a treat and it's petrol resistant. Might be worth a try.

 

Cheers

 

Daren

[Jon Bradbury]

don't use Hermatite or silicone, you need something that the petrol won't attack.

Dear Uncle Jim,

 

I have used a black gasket sealer compound to help the seal on the Ford gasket (filler neck to RHE tank) - its a bit like Hermetite (has that acrid acidic smell).. but will it leak???

 

Yours

 

Worried of Worthing

[Jon Bradbury]

PS, Good luck for Monday Trev!

 

JonB

[Big Jim]

Dear little Jonny of Worthing,

 

I have used a black gasket sealer compound to help the seal on the Ford gasket (filler neck to RHE tank) - its a bit like Hermetite (has that acrid acidic smell).. but will it leak???

 

It may not leak straight away, but worst of all, it will 'fall apart' into little bits that will float about in your petrol tank, blocking up your inlet gauze. This has happened numberous times. Mad Max (Colin King) will tell you just what a pain in the rear it can become.

 

have a nice day.

 

Uncle Jim

[Guest bloke]

thought red gasket does what it says on the tube - seals all oil and petrol??

 

cheers jim, an b0110x, hav sealed top and bottom holes in tank with red gasket.

oh well done now...

[Big Jim]

We'll let you test drive it Steve, let us know how it goes after a couple of months.

[Peter Bell]

Blue Hylomar seems pretty fuel resistant.

Peter.

[Guest Ant]

Someone else said Liquid Metal from Halfords works a treat and it's petrol resistant. Might be worth a try.

 

I used "Chemical metal" from Halfords to seal in my sender unit, and also around the take-off underneath (EFi setup).

 

It should do the trick. It's a two part paste, a bit like body filler. Mix the paste and the hardner, slap it on, and 15 mins later it's sealed.

 

Ant

[Guest TerryBarry]

Hi Trevor,

Firstly - Congrats on passing the SVA

Secondly - How did you fix the leak

 

Terry

[Guest Trevor 2B]

Terry

 

How I fixed the leak was using 'Leak Fix' from Halfords - sets rock hard, and I literally just glued the flexipipe onto the stub pipe that goes into the tank. No way it can leak now (I think!)

 

Going to get a new tank gasket as the one I've got appears a bit hard and old.

 

HTH

 

Trevor

[Guest ih007]

I had the same problem, but only found out at the sva station. I used Blue Hylomar, which i now know did the job fine. However, i wasnt sure if it'd work, so i filled it 3/4 full and connected the fuel sender wires together half way up their run - hey presto, full tank!