Petrol Tank

[fry61]

Help,petrol tank is leaking around the sender plate. Tank is 30 litre RH stainless supplied with plain hole for fuel supply pipe & plain hole + 4 circumferral 5mm holes;no fixing studs,all in top of tank. Have used Hylomar Blue gasket gue & sender plate gasket but still have a leak/leaks ;seem to be fuel coming up the threads of the studs which are inside the main sealing gasket. All ideas welcome,thanks.

[miikae]

I had this problem many moons ago,

I cut the sender part out of the top of the sierra fuel tank, made 6 holes around the outside and then bolted it on to the tank with a gasket, the sender then just fits as it was designed to.

 

I have had no problems since.

 

Mike

[fry61]

Thanks Mike,no can do, tank long gone & it's a fiesta sender with pump hanging on the bottom.

Stewart, yes mate this is what I tried,several times,maybe the tank is a little too flexible for the 4 studs to span, tighten down the nuts to stop leaks up thread & it then/still leaks on main gasket.

Will take all apart again tomorrow & try different gasket.

Other ideas still welcome.

[chris n]

Hi Bob

 

Use to have a big leak around the tank sender on old Spanky when I built her.

I made up a cork gasket bigger than the sender and then give it a good coat of the green Hermetite

than run blue thread lock down the studs to seal them and stop the nuts coming undone.

[Snapperpaul]

I did all the above then added 2 pieces of flat bar to bridge across 2 studs this spreads the clamping force evenly reducing local distortion around each stud

[miikae]

I had a quick trip to my local scrappy and ended up with them dragging a Fiesta off the heap and ripping the tank out for me the i operated on it there and then with my tin snips and a hacksaw blade, as i didn't want the rest of the tank.

 

 

Mike

[Peter Bell]

Hi two Bob pm me your email address and I will send some info which may be useful. The RHE tanks used to have 4 studs welded to the tank at jaunty angles not holes so it sounds as though they must have broken off.

[agent_zed]

I had this problem many moons ago,

I cut the sender part out of the top of the sierra fuel tank, made 6 holes around the outside and then bolted it on to the tank with a gasket, the sender then just fits as it was designed to.

 

I have had no problems since.

 

Mike

 

did the same although i used araldite and rivets to attach the ring. haven't had a problem in 3 years (touch wood and all that).

[fry61]

Hi two Bob pm me your email address and I will send some info which may be useful. The RHE tanks used to have 4 studs welded to the tank at jaunty angles not holes so it sounds as though they must have broken off.

Thanks Peter,P.M. will be sent, my tank,new from GBS had only the 4 stud holes so I guess it missed the studs during manufacture?

[Guest scrabster]

just an idea,how about the two pack petrol patch stuff to use on the gasket instead of the hylomar sealant.might be a bugger to get of at a later date though.

regards,jess.

[fry61]

If what I spent several hours on to-day doesn't work anything will be tried;no matter if its impossible to get apart; at the moment I will be happy just to keep the precious liquid IN the tank.

[Guest shaggy]

If what I spent several hours on to-day doesn't work anything will be tried;no matter if its impossible to get apart; at the moment I will be happy just to keep the precious liquid IN the tank.

Have you tried metal putty. You can get it from good motor factors. Sets like rock. I've used it with no problems at all in the past as anything else I tried wouldn't make a good seal

 

Si

[fry61]

Tank now sealed at sender; hope it stays that way;many thanks to all who posted suggestions,much appreciated,regards Bob.

[Guest smartfazer]

Bob,

 

How did you seal it in the end?

 

Steve

[fry61]

Two fibre gaskets "buttered" with blue hylomar,fiesta ring gasket on edge of sender coated with blue,(string noose around circumference to stop it spreading) very tight fitting rubber washers over studs (cut from petrol pipe) penny washers,standard washers then nuts( all with a smidge of blue)pulled down to touch all,"dried" solvent with 100watt lamp & final tighten. Left for a whole day then filled with fuel to 2" of top of filler neck (cap in top of boot,level with seat back panel) rocked car to expel air from tank,left all day checking every 15/20 minutes. Drained some of tank for overnight safety & repeated to-day. Still all O.K.

 

Warning --- if your fuel comes from a cold shed into a much warmer 'shop; keep a close eye on level, as expansion of the fuel could make it overflow at the filler when tank is this full. (grandma/sucks eggs disclaimer)