OT Repaired plastic gas tank

Throw it away! It's just not worth the risk.

Did much the same thing with a sodering iron on a gas can I cut through with a chain saw. ( not intentional ) Used plastic from an oil pail as my "rod". Been in use for the past six years, not problem.

I have to agree with Tom on this - Go get a new gas tank NOW, before you have to make the trip to the Burn Ward, and all the skin grafts and reconstructive surgeries.

Small gas engines vibrate severely in use at certain speeds and the entire machine is bouncing and moving depending on what the operating parts of the power equipment are doing, like a snow thrower scraping and bouncing off the driveway, or a rototiller bouncing trying to bite into hard soil. Even lawnmowers get bounced and banged around during use. This puts a lot of stress on the gas tank, especially at the mounting points.

The HD or UHMW polyethylene of the gas tank has a finite life, the sun and gasoline gets to it and it gets brittle. That crack will open up again when you don't notice it, and can spread fast to where it can totally unzip the tank wall, and dump the better part of a gallon of gas onto a hot engine...

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It's good to be king, isn't it?

Steve

Is not one of the purposes of this newsgroup to discuss the many times we have bubblegummed and RubeGoldberged together solutions rather than going down and bending over the counter at the parts store?

Sure, It could fail. But then, I've seen old farm fixes that lasted for decades. I'd damn sure try to fix it and use it before I'd go pay what they want for a new one. IF they could find a new one, that is.

And plastic tanks? Just how much does that save over a two piece stamped tank like USED to come on lawnmowers? I'd gladly pay the extra $5 of $10 for one with a metal tank. But NOOOOOOOOO. They want to make $$$ on selling you the mower, then make $$$ on plastic worthless parts.

Buy some beer with the money you saved, and don't worry about it going kaflooey. If it starts leaking again, I'm sure you'll notice it. You saw it THIS time, didn't you? And if you crash into the fence or shed and rupture the tank, and set everything afire with the gushing gas, it's only a sign from Marvin the Patron Saint of Lawnmowers that you need to drink a little less beer next time.

Steve

Hot glue is soluble in some solvents, don't know if gasoline is among them.

My experience with an '80 Honda.

The gas tank had a doubler on the bottom to protect against road damage. Space between doubler and tank wall collected salt water. Tank rusted through in two years. I removed the doubler, cleaned the whole bottom surface, and applied "gas tank repair epoxy" to the actual leak. Then I put two layers of Bondo and fiberglas on the whole bottom side. Six years later, when I sold the car, the repair was still sound.

Pat

Sheet metal screws work better on polyethylene / polypropylene until the new tank arrives. Warm the plastic so it doesn't crack.

I burned a hole into the oil tank of my Husqvarna chain saw by reinstalling the muffler gaskets incorrectly. The tank is part of the $125 housing, so I fixed it with Permatex radiator and gas tank sealant and made a stainless steel heat shield to protect it. The repair has lasted 2 seasons.

Of course the trump argument is that my wife uses the lawnmower

Is she worth the cost of a new tank? Go talk to any lawn mower guy and he'll find you a new tank that will work just fine. My wife mows the grass with the push mower and the tractor. It would be foolish for me to have her run anything that didn't run perfect. Cuz if it didn't, I'd be runing the thing and I'd rather watching her mow the grass.

I think it would be particularly hard to find a new tank, the mower is old and parts are hard to find

The tank sees NO sun and is not near the engine and even further from the muffler. The reason the tank cracked in the first place is that it was mounted on 2 members that were not fixed in relation to each other; I removed the offending fixed mount. Of course the trump argument is that my wife uses the lawnmower ;)

Free men own guns - www(dot)geocities(dot)com/CapitolHill/5357/

Okay, but humor me and at least look. When they make them out of plastic, they know they're going to fail from old age too. If the company that made the mower is still in business, or they bought it from an outside maker that sells to the trade the replacements are out there - whether the price is reasonable is another question.

Oh - Right, then. Who cares about her safety...?

If it's not right over the engine that lessens the hazard, but does not eliminate it.

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"YOU'LL PUT YER EYE OUT," "YOU'LL PUT YER EYE OUT." (sung to the child melody)

Sheesh. This is exactly what is bad about posting such things sometimes. Trying to share some small bit of information on a solution you came up with. Then, all you hear from are the paranoid. It makes one wonder just how much metalworking they've done, if any, and what kind of tools they actually have. I've fixed things with absolutely no expectation of it working. And it worked. And vice versa. There are those here who hit Mega Lotto who would just have Jose buy himself a new lawnmower. For the rest of us, it's time to get out in the shop and see if we can get this bucket of bolts running. A gas tank on a lawnmower surely isn't a solid rocket engine.

Sheesh.

Steve

Im still trying to find a plastic gas tank for a Mitsubishi weed wacker. Thing runs fine, ran fine when I bought it at a swap meet 10 yrs ago for $20, Kinda like it actually.

Tank split last summer, but cant find any replacement parts sources.

Maybe its time to go back to the swap meet.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

I'm old now...52 and tenaciously cling to what few months I have left so I opt for a new tank but ok, I'll concede a fix. Ever hear of a stuff called "Seal-All"?

The upset neighbor lady comes over while you are swilling a beer while watching the wife cut the grass and says to you: "You should be hung!" ...and you reply: "I am, that's why she's cutting the grass!"

The urethane stuff that is used to seal windshields is *the* thing for fuel tank sealing. Gob it on while the gasoline is running out, it'll seal.. crazy stuff, I've used it on five or six tanks with no disappointments.

John

Works good on steel, but won't stick on most "plastic" tanks. Heat welding DOES work. Some special flexible Epoxy works too.

Steve, I gotta agree.. A couple years ago my rolling garage door spring one one side let go at the 90* bend near the eye. Made a hell of a bang! I made several calls and finally located a PAIR (ONLY) for nearly half what I originally paid for the door... INSTALLED!! Horse pucky!! I ended up threading 4 pieces of 1" aluminum rod for 2" of 8 TPI on the lathe on one end, and drilled and threaded the other end at 3/8x16 and screwed in an eye bolt to connect to the door frame. The threaded end of the rod screwed (expanding the spring ever so slightly) right into the spring for the entire length of the external

8 TPI threads. I thought it was a great idea and posted same to one of the Yahoo groups....and I got shot down totaly in flames!! The naysayers came ouf the woodwork in droves..... You'd have thought I'd made a bomb.

Bill

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:29:17 -0800 (PST), with neither quill nor qualm, npwbill quickly quoth:

When it comes to simple things like garage door springs, everyone seems to think they're the worst WMDs ever invented. I've worked (carefully, the extension type -can- be dangerous) with a dozen over the years and the worst I've ever had happen was a pinched finger. I've never been able to figure out why everyone's web instructions, from mfgrs to wannabe handymen, all say "LEAVE INSTALLATION TO THE PROFESSIONALS", always in caps. Hell, walking across a parking lot to shop is more dangerous most of the time.

Then again, we adventurers all work with machinery on a daily basis and think nothing of it. Ours is a dangerous world and we're alert to it. No biggie. But even guys here (who have written up garage door replacement pages) still have the Screaming Mimis when it comes to the simple springs (which house tons of latent energy.) You'd think a simple "Watch it, these can unwind/spring away/at you." would be enough, wooncha? Amazing.