Fuel seeping from fuel tank

[crashbanggg]

After noticing a slight whiff of petrol around my car and a small puddle/ stain of something wet under it, I've just had a look and it would appear my fuel tank has started to rust/ disintegrate at the seam of thank, in my eyes nothing too serious, its consistently damp as opposed to pouring out, but is building up enough to drip and run underneath a little, which is possibly taking it a little close to the exhaust pipe for comfort (although the car has been sat for a week to let it build up that far) but still nothing more than a drip.

Here's what it's looking like:




My dad has had a look and seems to think a new fuel tank is the only way, which is not ideal money wise! So I guess my question is, are there any quick fixes which can be done to stop it seeping for now without having to go to the expense/ ballache of a new tank quite yet? Or am I being daft and a new tank is the only sensible option?

[ianaudia4]

I think you have answered your own question with regards a new tank!
Yes, it is a ball ache but if you don't do it now and you intend to keep the car then you will have to do at some stage in the future.
I had to change the tank on my Scala, there seemed no point in a tempory fix.
A new tank will cost you about £120 or so, maybe cheaper if you ask for a discount!

[crashbanggg]

Hmm thought as much! That'll be more non-student related spending's from next terms student loan then!

How tricky is it to replace the tank?

[ianaudia4]

Not too difficult, the hardest part is getting the height so that you can work on it and give the bolts a good spraying of WD40 or suchlike to make them easier to remove. If you can, get new bushes for the rear axle as they are probably past their best.
Give the new tank a good coating of anti chip paint or underseal to protect it.

[mark1gls]

Might be worth taking the back seat out and have a look under the inspection hole in case the gasket at the top off the fuel tank which holds the fuel sender in has a leak.

[treefingers]

i have a working tank you can have if you want. i'm in hampshire tho!

[scrumpyone]

Take Mark's advice & check the seal first.

I had a similar problem with a new tank.

[Nate]

If it is the seam leaking, then there is a quick bodge that you can do. Frosts do fuel tank sealer. Remove and drain the tank, pour it in and tape up all holes. Slosh it about to cover the inside of the tank. Basically, its à thick perfil resistant paint. Not cheap though.

[crashbanggg]

I've finally had a look, nothing appears to be coming from the seal, but is definitely coming from the rust at the seam. A new tank is now sat in the dining room awaiting my return at the end of this term (Much to mum's delight), new bushes also ready to go on. Will probably get a garage to sort it all due to a lack of time and equipment!

Thanks for the help!

[mark1gls]

Don't forget to give the new fuel tank a coat of paint, I would avoid using Hammerite as it's rubbish...

[Jimmytdi]

Ive just bought a new tank from heritage for my mk2, £109 inc vat straight off the shelf.

It says it is galvanised so i wasnt going to go mad painting it, just a coat and then some sort of stonechip guard for the underneath?

[crashbanggg]

Update: Having finished uni for the year, I had the car booked in at the garage, all was going well until I mentioned replacing the axle bushes, at which point there was a lot of teeth sucking followed by saying how they didn't realise the axle would need dropping and ultimately wouldn't have time to do it. He also mentioned that the brake pipes would need to be disconnected and if they broke would then require even more work ect ect. Ultimately, they said I would be looking at around £300/£400 to get it done... 'Sod that' I thought, and left.

Now I'm back home iv got a little more access to tools and space, as mentioned before, height is one issue, would a set of axle stands lift it high enough? And so I can convince my dad (/myself) that it's a good idea, could someone post a quick list of what needs to be done in order to replace the tank?

TL/DR: Costs too much at the garage, how would I do it myself?

[mark1gls]

Yes it is possible to drop the fuel tank and rear beam with the car on axel stands.
You will also need a good trolly jack as the rear beam is heavy and you can use the trolly jack to lower the rear beam once it's all disconnected.
First thing is to clean the threads on the bolts which hold the beam on with a wire brush and get some penetrating oil (NOT WD40, Plusgas is good) and start soaking them for a few days as if they snap it's another problem to deal with.
When I jacked up my car I used 2 trolly jacks on the rear beam got it nice and high then put 2 axel stands with a block of wood on them under the 2 rear jacking points on the sills and it was fine to work at that height.
Might be worth looking into new rear brake hoses if the ones fitted to the car are old as it's alot easier to replace them while doing this job than at a later date and if things rusted up you can cut them remove the rear beam and work on them with more room.
I put the rear wheels back on once I lowerd the beam and dragged the plastic sheet I was lying on out of the way as I found it alot easier to move around.
Just check and recheck you have removed everything from the rear beam before lowering it on the trolly jacks. (hand brake cables, brake lines, rear shocks etc...)
If you look at page 4 of my old thread you can see what I replaced and how I removed the old bushes, the hardest bit was getting the fuel tank back in!
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1729&hilit=respray&start=45

Lots of info in the haynes