can you seal a leaky fuel tank

[wayneE30]

as above mines leaking is there a cheap way to fix it??

[DanThe]

You can use fibre glass, area needs to be clean, dry and scratched well though

[smithy318i]

You can buy petrol tank repair putty stuff.
when mixed together, it can be moulded over the holes, and goes rock hard.
Your local auto shop will sell it.

[kam-325i]

I hope so, my tank leaks slightly if i put more than Ԛ£25.00 in it....

[Zayyan]

I hope so, my tank leaks slightly if i put more than Ԛ£25.00 in it....

Mine's the same, I put Ԛ£30 of petrol in the other day and the car stank of petrol for the first hundred miles or so.

Slightly off topic, but how do you access the fuel tank?

[12345kevin]

Is it definetly the tank ! Mine was like this and turned out to be a perished hose on top ! Also heard that the filler pipe corrodes along the top edge.

[320Touring]

In the e30 its usually the filler neck that leaks- it can be replaced/repaired easily using iether the fibreglass/putty methods explained above.

If the car smells of petrol regardless of how much fuel is in it, it could also be the overflow pipe on the filler neck or a leak at the fuel filter (gets bunged up, or pipes split at the connections.

what to do is drive the car onto a mat of newspaper and leave it running for a couple of mins to see if there is any leaks in the fuel system, or if its just vapours. the nespaper will shoe exactly where the leak is from (LOOK UP FROM WHERE THE DRIPS FALL )

good luck!

[oze30]

Back in oz, we had 2 methods of sealing a tank puncture.

1: Rub a cake of soap over the hole until the hole is blocked up. ( Ithink the petrol reacts with it, making the soap go "off" )
2. Half chew a mintie and then jam it up into the hole. ( This works VERY well believe it or not)

3: If you have spinifex grass ( Which you don't) you can boil some of it in a billy, until it becomes a kind of black paste, then work it a bit more until it becomes a gum type substance. Then work that into the hole.

Just some fuel for thought!

[E30Adam]

Whatever temporary fix you use you'll probably find yourself back under the car again in 6 months to a years time so I'd suggest to get a new tank in there. They aren't a lot of money from GSF.

[oze30]

number 3 works a treat.. it's a kind of epoxy resin and sets like metal.. Lasts ages and won't come out! Just 1 problem
















There's no spinifex grass north of Oz!