Leaky gas tank

[jderstine]

I got a nice looking gas tank that I put on my 122 ( the original had 12 year gas in it

) It seemed to develop a leak after about three hours of use. The surface when I got it was smooth. It's almost like the gas brought out imperfections in the metal

Here's some pictures

Any ideas of a good repair?

Thanks
Jeff

 

[fcurrier]

Keep it going here, guys. I'm in on this, too.

 

[aschumacher]

Well....I'm gonna stick my neck out and hope Charlie don't smack me. The sponsors have new and used tanks, but seem to be worth their weight in silver.($125+). There is a FAQ that discusses cleaning an old tank but dont remember one on relining. I did a google search on 'fuel tank relining' and found this...
http://reviews.jcwhitney.com/1915/10795G/reviews.htm

 

[fcurrier]

Thanx, Allen. I didn't even think about relining - I was thinking of an exterior fix. I like your idea better.

Flashback to JC Whitney: Their catalogs were such a great parts # cross-reference before these

days.

 

[jderstine]

Allen,
The JC Whitney review showed that the Kreem was not available any more. Plus the guys on the Kawasaki Triple forum have had terrible results with that particular product ( peeling off and clogging the petcock and carbs)

They recommend POR 15
http://www.por15.com/CYCLE-TANK-REPAIR-KIT/productinfo/CTRK/

That retails for $40.25 plus shipping. That's too much for a common tank with not so nice paint.

 

[digger]

I've heard good and bad about both those products.
I've also heard that they both work well on motorcycles, but the vibration on our kohlers takes it's toll on both after a while.
BUT, I've never used either one, so it might be worth investigating.

Allen S.
Your so abused!

 

[dtanner]

Well water or argon gas will eliminate the bang.You could mig or tig it also or use the old style soldering irons. That would be the kind you heat up in a fire .Muratic acid to clean the area and acid core solder to fill the hole where the leak is. my .02

 

[rchristensen]

I'm betting if you could fix one hole another would appear before you know it. If the outside is any indication of what the inside looks like I would look for a better tank.

 

[dfrisk]

I'm going to go with RICHARD on this. The eight quart tanks are stamped & soldered together from three similar parts with small passages going from the big main part of the tank to the smaller portion. LOTS of potential for rust pits in that area you can't even see, and be difficult to get any kind of sealer into that area too.

The tank included with my rebuilder K321 yrs ago had a small crack about an inch or so from the outlet fitting. I tried brazing it up and even tough I could smell Absolutely NO gas fumes in the tank the metal refused to bond with the brass/bronze brazing metal. Solder may have worked better but I never tried it. I did try to "MIG" it back together and believe it or not there are tyes of steel you can not weld. As soon as I tried to start an arc even with my MIG set as low as it would go it just blew holes in the steel.

Eventually while trying to pressure test the tank for leaks I blew the tank apart and exposed the true condition of the inside of the tank. That's when I decided to make a CUSTOM larger capacity tank, which worked fine until vibration finally fatigued the mounting ears that tied it to the two 1/4" capscrews into the sides of the head. It now has a brand new plastic 8 quart tank. I tried to seal the inside of the custom tank with the tank sealer kit from Eastwood and was completely dissatisfied.

Good thing Kentucky KEN hopefully won't see this but I've had as good of luck sealing tanks with JB Weld from the outside.

 

[jderstine]

Richard
You are probably correct. Looking at it again, it would be the equivilent of being told to sit in the corner of a round room.

I guess it's time to find an affordable tank.

Thanks everyone
Jeff

 

[fcurrier]

Jeff: Did you find another tank? I know I could email you, but I'd like to keep this thread going. I decided to repair one once, washed it all out, let it air dry for a LONG time, put it on a tailgate and propane torch/soldered it. It still leaked when I put some gas in it so I rinsed it out with water and made another attempt. That's when I found out what the inside of one looks like! If I'd been standing over it instead of off to one side I'd be singing soprano -- one end landed about 50 feet in back of me. It didn't take long to learn another thing - a new, primed but unpainted tank from the dealer was $75. Damn, I bet that tank is in Nova Scotia!

 

[jderstine]

Frank
Can you hold a certain parcel ransom in exchange for the tank?

I'm going to try to get the original tank clean once again. There's a tank on *bay right now but it doesn't look so hot and is being sold "as is"

The good part of a sediment bowl is that you can see if you're pulling crap out of the tank.

Jeff

 

[wshytle]

Jeff-

I agree with Richard C. and Dennis. From the looks of the picture that tank has pitting, scaly rust and that's on the outside. We can only imagine what the hidden parts of the interior look like. I'd be willing to bet that tank is toast. Once you get one leak from rust you can count on five more in the near future. The vibrations the tank has to endure will eventually shake rust loose when there's a lot of it. You will also have to clean your carb more than usual. It doesn't take much to throw a carb out of working properly. I think if you did the muriatic acid bath it would produce several holes. It's a costly fix but a newer tank will save you many headaches.

Frank-

You sound like a dangerous man. Be careful. It's a known fact that gas and fire don't mix well. Eyebrows and fingers are worth more than $75 in my book.

 

[tcbusch]

I had a tank that leaked at the seam. I washed it with boiling water with a heavy dose of soap. You need soap to remove the gas. Washed it out about 4 times using this method. Then I soldered the tank. Before soldering the tank i put it behind a big tree. Using a plumbing torch I tried to light the tank on fire through the opening. With the tree between me and the tank. After several attempts with no boom I knew i was good to go. You have to be very careful when soldering the tank. If you heat it up too much you'll make all the existing solder flow out. When you think you are done you need to pressure test the tank. I would use around 10 PSI or so.

Do this at your own risk, if you blow up the tank you could take someones eye out.

 

[jderstine]

I "mickey mouse" repaired it so I could move the tractors around to get the 125 in position since that has the QA-42 on it.

I was going to put on the cruddy tank and as I pulled the leaky one off, I saw my problem which was very easy to see after a few seconds with the wire wheel.

The surrounding metal seemed somewhat stable ( for sitting over the winter ) so I put some sealer on a screw and screwed it in.

I put about a quart of gas in it ( way below the "repair" ) and it worked just fine.

Now I have time to find another tank or get the original one cleaned better.

Once again, thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Jeff

 

[fcurrier]

 

[mjrobilotta]

not sure how many others have had this problem but ive had it on two machines now. on the bottom where the fuel sediment bowl connects to the tank the fitting is attached to a square shaped piece attached to the tank. on both a 70 and a 100 i had issues with this area leaking. jb weld works perfect to fix this

 

[mgonitzke]

I've had to re-solder a couple of tanks that were 'fixed' with JB-<font size="-2">can't</font>Weld. It doesn't seem to be gas resistant...it eventually separates and peels off.

 

[balder]

Michael that must be a common problem I have a couple tanks leaking the same place.

 

[rchristensen]

I agree with Matt, JB Weld on a gas tank is going to come loose sooner or later. I don't know if it is the gas or the vibration but I have never seen one hold over a long period of time.