Fuel Tank Leaking

Had a bad day today!!

First of all my battery packed up, not really a problem as I knew it was on its way out.

I put the battery on charge at about 16:00 hrs and at about 18:00hrs I went back down the shed to check its status.

When I walked in the shed I could smell petrol and noticed the shed floor was wet, then I saw that my fuel tank had deposited all of its contents on my floor.

I removed the tank and have found that the tank at the rear is leaking fuel, just around where the two vents exit on the lower edge.

I removed the fuel pump for access to the internal area of the fuel tank and could clearly see that one of the two internal tubes was cracked and was allowing fuel to enter the breather tube and flow out of the vent.

The worst bit is that someone had bodged it before with some silicone sealant ****. Wankers could have killed me!!!

The way I look at it is I have a few options:

Buy a new fuel tank @ just over £1200.00 - No thanks.

Buy a second hand fuel tank and pay to have it painted and decalled up - possibility as I may have a custom paint job done at the same time.

Second hand tanks are going for around £100 at the moment, decals should be about £30 and around £75 to paint. Not gonna be cheap is it.

Or I could break out the resin and attempt a proper repair.

Anyone come across this before, constructive advice welcome, piss takers can fook off cause I've had a sense of humour failure now!!!

cheesy said:

alan


if your talknig about the 2 drain hoses inside the tank

they can be replaced

Click to expand...

I can't see how you can replace them as they are moulded tubes and are part of the tank.

Unless I cut them out and glass in some metal tubes and use some fuel resistant hose to link the lower part of the breather with the cap parts!!

I can see that working!!


Good idea Cheesy, you got me thinking about this now.

Mines the plastic tank and the internal piping is part of the tank mould.

Gonna have to think carefully about this one as I think that this is a type of plastic that once it's formed you can't do naff all with it.

amb67 said:

Had a bad day today!!

First of all my battery packed up, not really a problem as I knew it was on its way out.

I put the battery on charge at about 16:00 hrs and at about 18:00hrs I went back down the shed to check its status.

When I walked in the shed I could smell petrol and noticed the shed floor was wet, then I saw that my fuel tank had deposited all of its contents on my floor.

I removed the tank and have found that the tank at the rear is leaking fuel, just around where the two vents exit on the lower edge.

I removed the fuel pump for access to the internal area of the fuel tank and could clearly see that one of the two internal tubes was cracked and was allowing fuel to enter the breather tube and flow out of the vent.

The worst bit is that someone had bodged it before with some silicone sealant ****. Wankers could have killed me!!!

The way I look at it is I have a few options:

Buy a new fuel tank @ just over £1200.00 - No thanks.

Buy a second hand fuel tank and pay to have it painted and decalled up - possibility as I may have a custom paint job done at the same time.

Second hand tanks are going for around £100 at the moment, decals should be about £30 and around £75 to paint. Not gonna be cheap is it.

Or I could break out the resin and attempt a proper repair.

Anyone come across this before, constructive advice welcome, piss takers can fook off cause I've had a sense of humour failure now!!!

Click to expand...

Alan, sorry to hear ya bad news mate, wish I could help, I might have a look at mine tomorrow...just to check all is well.
let me know when you have got over your sense of humour failure! and I will rib the **** out of ya:thumbup:thumbup

It's not leaking from round the fuel pump flange.

The breather insert is metal and it looks like some tosser has snapped it off at some point and damaged the actual plastic tank in the process.

To repair it they just slapped some silicone sealant round it, over time the fuel has eaten away at the silicone and hence the leak now.

I think I may be modding my tank and replacing this toss set up with a new improved version.

OK, all you piss takers can fill yer boots now. My sense of humour has now officially been reinstated. :biggrin

I've repaired my tank and it cost me £8.99 and the loss of a gallon or two of fuel.

Some piccies of the repair:

This shows the vent nipples, the corroded one is the one that was blocked and had fuel leaking from it.


The rusty vent nipple and the internal pipe in this shot, you can see the repair I did internally on the pipe on the left.


This shot just shows you what a ***** design it is.


Shot of the vent nipples and how I had to set them in resin to ensure that the repair was permanent.


All rebuilt and a repair to the Nomex heat reflector plate too.


How I did it:

I inserted a 5mm bolt in to the hole and then repaired the cracked pipe with Quik Steel Plastic Tank kit. You have to ensure that the area is very clean and has no remnants of petrol, oil or grease. Rough the area up with a little sandpaper, emery cloth etc.... and apply the repair compound.

NOTE: Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the pipe as they are pretty fragile.

Once that set I unscrewed the bolt and then used Araldite Plastic repair kit (make sure you use the one that is impervious to fuel, oil etc...) to cover the previous repair. Just makes the pipe a little more sturdier and gives it a 100% seal.

I then set the vent nipples in resin making sure that I didn't get too much resin overflow and block the vent pipe like the last tosser did.

I then let all this set overnight and tested it with a small amount of fuel. All was well after leaving the repaired bit immersed in fuel overnight.

Rebuilt the tank and fitted back on the bike, added some fuel and left it to ensure that no seepage occurs.

It's looking good so far.

Yes that is a television in the background of the piccies, gotta have your comforts at hand.

:doug

How I did it:

I inserted a 5mm bolt in to the hole and then repaired the cracked pipe with Quik Steel Plastic Tank kit. You have to ensure that the area is very clean and has no remnants of petrol, oil or grease. Rough the area up with a little sandpaper, emery cloth etc.... and apply the repair compound.

NOTE: Be careful not to apply too much pressure to the pipe as they are pretty fragile.

Once that set I unscrewed the bolt and then used Araldite Plastic repair kit (make sure you use the one that is impervious to fuel, oil etc...) to cover the previous repair. Just makes the pipe a little more sturdier and gives it a 100% seal.

I then set the vent nipples in resin making sure that I didn't get too much resin overflow and block the vent pipe like the last tosser did.

I then let all this set overnight and tested it with a small amount of fuel. All was well after leaving the repaired bit immersed in fuel overnight.

Rebuilt the tank and fitted back on the bike, added some fuel and left it to ensure that no seepage occurs.

It's looking good so far.

Yes that is a television in the background of the piccies, gotta have your comforts at hand.

:doug[/QUOTE]

Mate top job there Alan :thumbup

Nice one Alan - I nominate it for the How To section. Can you come round and do my leaky bathroom tap now?