Fuel Tank Leak

[BadBob]

I had a problem with the petcocks leaking and after reading everything I could find on the subject rebuilt them. Both had corrosion and I cleaned and polished them as best I could. Everything looked good at first but the after a a day or so I smelled gas and discovered the towel I had the tank on was soaked with gas on one side. The side that had the worst corrosion. I assumed that petcock had a slow leak.

Yesterday, I decide to replace my petcocks with new ones and needed to measure the holes for an adapter plate. When I turned the tank over I discovered that the slow leak I had thought was coming from the old petcock was actually coming from the seam in the bottom of the gas tank.

This is not a good thing.

Is this repairable?

I did some searching and have not found much yet.

[webbcraft2150]

It would depend if it is just a cracked seam or rust thru. Empty the tank and take a small pointed devise (philips screwdriver, scratch awl, ect.) and tap around on the bottom of the tank looking for "soft spots". If you don't find any, your in luck. The tank seam can be brazed up. If you do not have the equipment, a radiator repair shop should be able to fix you up. Welding or brazing on a fuel tank can be VERY dangerous if you do not prep the tank correctly. If you are not sure how to do it, farm the job out.

[HobbyMan]

Just think, Hot metal with gas fumes. Just to throw it in there, if your petcocks were leaking, there are rebuild kits.

[LoHo]

You might also look at the Caswell epoxy coating to seal it from inside. The coating could improve the structural integrity of other rusty spots you don't know about yet, as well as solve some rust-related carb problems.

[trbig]

Does anyone remember the link recently where the guy used a dremel and split his tank at the seams...(Top and bottom) to clean the tank and re-weld? I have looked for that and can't find it. Might be an option here. I am intersted in doing that with a tank also.. and maybe patch it from the inside.

Tod

[HobbyMan]

I rember the photos, but I didn't see the thread either.

[HobbyMan]

ahh here it is
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...threadid=11625

[trbig]

Andrew you RULE!! I have been looking for that thread for a week!! Thank you!

Tod

[HobbyMan]

No problem. I just did a search for welded tanks. Only took about 3 min.

[trbig]

So obviously Thank you wasn't enough!... Apparently you had to rub it in?!? OK.. You don't rule any more! lol

[HobbyMan]

I guess I am no longer Lord Andrew Well, my reign, though short, was a good one.

[red bandit]

If you want to weld on a gas tank...Fill it with water. I've done a few.

[BadBob]

Originally posted by webbcraft2150
It would depend if it is just a cracked seam or rust thru. Empty the tank and take a small pointed devise (philips screwdriver, scratch awl, ect.) and tap around on the bottom of the tank looking for "soft spots". If you don't find any, your in luck. The tank seam can be brazed up. If you do not have the equipment, a radiator repair shop should be able to fix you up. Welding or brazing on a fuel tank can be VERY dangerous if you do not prep the tank correctly. If you are not sure how to do it, farm the job out.

I did the taping as you suggested and did not find any thing soft. The tank seems solid. There are a couple of spots that I'm not sure of. The bike was dropped an the dented tank was repaired. These spots look like they have been filled and refinished.

I'm going to check with the local radiator shops to see if they can fix this up for me.

[BadBob]

Originally posted by LoHo
You might also look at the Caswell epoxy coating to seal it from inside. The coating could improve the structural integrity of other rusty spots you don't know about yet, as well as solve some rust-related carb problems.

I went to their web site and read some of their documentation. This sure sounds like good stuff. I've got another tank around here that could use a good coating of sealer and the kit will do two 5 gallon tanks.

I really liked their idea of using dry wall screws to clean out the tank. They very hard and have lots of sharp edges to scrape rust with.

[BadBob]

I looked inside the tank with a small LED flashlight and there are definitely some rusty spots in there plus some areas I'm not sure about that appear to be some some sort of crusty build up.

Any ideas on how I could get a good look inside the tank.

There all so appears to be some sort of red coating inside the tank. Could I be looking at a botched attempt at sealing the tank.

I think I'm going to have clean it.