Drip, Drip

[Kurt W. Deschler]

The location of the hole can be partially answered by figuring out how
much gas it takes to leak. Probably takes a few gallons to hit the seam.
Would be iteresting to know the exact number. On my tank, the bottom
rusted through in a couple places so it would leak with very little fuel
in it.

It was impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from until I removed
the skid plate. Be careful not to break the skid plate mounting bolts. I
used penetrating oil and an air chisel to burp the bolts out. My tank had
been repaired once before I owned it with epoxy and now it was leaking
from the same place.

I was able to fix the hole much better by soldering on copper strips using
a very large soldering iron. First I drained the tank (by enlarging the
hole and jacking up the other side) and filled it with exhaust from
another car. The CO and CO2 effectively turns the tank into a fire
extinguisher. Then I used a wire brush on a drill to get all the rust off
the bottom of the tank and a course file to remove pitting around the
hole. I used flux and solder to tin the tank and copper then attached the
copper to the tank and filled in good around edges with more solder. I
found and fixed 2 other holes while checking for leaks that I created
while removing rust, but better to fix them all at once. One I was sure
there were no more leaks, I primed with rust converting primer and
followed with a quality undercoat. No more leaks now. As for the skid
plate, the local votech school fab shop make me up a new one out of
stainless for $50 (compared to $180 from the dealer).

I also have an extra tank (in Marlboro, MA) if you need one that I bought
to replace mine with, but did not use.

	-Kurt
	'87 5kcstq
	'88 vw gti 16v

> Seems to be leaking from the driver side of the tank, but it is hard to tell
> precisely where.  It's dripping directly onto the mid muffler, which is on
> the driver side of the car.
>
> The leak is definitely gravity driven, not pressure driven.
>
> Any other thoughts out there?
>
> -- Tom Werner