Fuel tank hole repair - solved

2 Pack HDPE Plastic Sheet: 12" x 16" x 1/8" Starboard, Marine Board, Made in USA

Looks like I can order this to make a plug

and then

$15 Terrilee 40Pcs Plastic Welding Rods - HDPE 9.8''(25cm) Plastic Welding Repair Rods Strips Common Flat Plastic Welding Rods Kit for Car Bumper, Water Tanks,Canoe and Plastic Bins (40)

I can use this as filler material.

Although.... I could just cut the first link into thin strips and use that as welding filler. No reason to get two things.

 

If you have access to welding gas, maybe purge it with a CO2/AR mix or similar before trying to plastic weld it. Through the fuel filler cap, rig up a rubber or foam plug & use very mild positive pressure e.g. less than 1 PSI so it doesn't push on your patch.

 

I think im going to fill it with water, then dry it out after. Tank is out, and I can do it in a well ventilated outdoor area.

 

A motorcycle gas tank shop next door use to put a pipe up a running vehicle's tail pipe with the other end in the empty motorcycle gas tank to get rid of all the remaining fumes.

 

Solved

I cut a piece of HDPE from a sheet, and trimmed it to fit snugly in the hole.

melted the edges together.

I then cut a long "welding rod" out of the donor sheet, and used that to slowly fill in the hole.

Once done, I cut some wire mesh to be 3x the size of the hole, and melted it into the tank material.

I then added a bit more filler material on top, cooled it off, then smoothed it out / compressed it down.

Looks pretty damn good tbh, and its rock solid. Topped the tank off with fuel, and added a bottle of HEET since I filled the tank with water as a explosion deterrent (I did wipe out as much as I could).

Not bad for less than 50$

 

Any pics?!

 

Ill take some tomorrow when theres light out

 

What did you use as a heat source for the plastic fusing/welding?

 

cheap harbor freight plastic welder.

Its basically a soldering iron with a different tip on it. A soldering iron would work just fine.

 

Congrats! Hope it holds up. Friggin' tweakers.

 

I fully expect any other part of the tank to fail. This is quite solid.

 

Would definitely like to see pictures of this repair. There have been in the past a few items in plastic I would have liked to repair/resurrect.

 

Thank you for the update and glad you were successful with the repair, looking forward to the pictures!

 

Jbweld tank weld?

 

Only works temporarily as the plastic expands/contracts at different rates and will eventually leak.

 

I'm bad and I feel bad.

Oh... This is a whole ass story btw.

I went to return the tank, because it was incorrect. No ones fault, it just wasn't the correct tank. The salesman started yelling at me, calling me a liar and that it's the right tank. Dude went off the deep end completely. Told me I was making up the Toyota part numbers, they didn't exist, and all 3rd gens have the same tank.

Absolutely wild. I would advise everyone stay away from Toyotamart in Sacramento. Dude there has serious issues lol.

For the first time in my life, I left a negative review. Nothing outlandish, just a "hey this happened it's not cool" and the dude starts calling me from his personal phone.

I'll get pics tomorrow, promise! Today was just too busy to do it.

 

Yikes, go to return the thing like a human being and get barked at..WTF. Seems to me you would have rather the new one fit, used that, and called it a day.

Jeez, IIRC my 1979 Mustang could have used more than one kind of tank. Pretty sure my 1984 Olds Delta 88 did..only 2 vehicles I've had to deal with this part on. Not out of the question for anything else IMO

 

Yeah no idea, dude just paused for a few seconds then exploded like it was some hit to his pride. Looking at the reviews of the place there are others that have had this issue as well.