Ahh crap!

Yes that is a worry, i was hoping to just undo the big ring clamp and drop the tank away leaving the sender unit in position. The pipes are intact but the fittings are coroded a bit and i can see that they will not seperate from the tank unit.

Dave

Must admit on mine they werent too bad.

The petrol doesnt have nylon pipes, it has steel pipes with rubber hoses on the end where they meet the tank or engine.

The fittings were wuite rusted but came apart remarkably easily. Its a two spanner job, one on the sender, one on the pipe, and take it steady.

Worth giving it a go mate, its very easy to get **** in the tank if youre dropping it with the sender out.

Up to you though

Nah there is no way these fittings would come undone, they are dry and sound but corroded up. I cant afford to let this job get out of hand as i've blown the budget for this year!!

Dave

Anyone tried syphoning a disco tank? I did and it didnt work Its just about impossible to get the hose into the fuel.

At present, i'm using a 1/4" pipe which was the largest i could get into the sender hole after undoing the ring, slow is not the word

Presuming there is only one, i might have found the hole, its a drill-hole right on the top back edge under the rear floor strip, i can't see it but can feel it and it's dead below a rivet

Hopefully there's only the one and i can maybe heat-seal it over or something, or maybe put a screw in and epoxy over the top???

The tank still has to come out though, and yes, rollbar mounts off and towbar stays off but that looks about it, then its just the filler pipes and cradle bolts.

Dave

Ive syphoned a disco tank with a hose pipe... other than mouth full of diesel, no problems. Seriously, if you can feel the hole just go get some chemical metal/body filler/something, and plug the hole, forget taking everything apart.

Halfrauds do a " jiggle tube" for precisely that job.

To avoid a mouthful when siphoning, you need a second length of hose, and a rigid bottle of some sort (or the container you are using needs to be rigid).
Seal as best you can the neck of the bottle around the hoses, then when you suck on the 'spare' hose, you create a vacuum in the bottle, which draws the fuel down the other hose and starts the syphon.

This way you should not get a mouth full of fuel unless you keep sucking till the bottle is full!

I did this to empty mums 200tdi when we scrapped it, (they had filled it for the MOT, which was a catastrophic failure!). using garden hose, and went it through the hole on top for the sender.

MW

The "jiggle tube" has a non return valve to stop that. As yu jiggle the pipe up and down it "pumps" the fuel along the pipe, until it will siphon automatically.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_197771_langId_-1_categoryId_165469

Had a gobfull of petrol once, not the best drinking experience

I did think of just stuffing a finger of filler in the hole but it would be a pretty safe bet that there is more than one hole. There is also the added problem that the top of the tank is now swimming in diesel so the chance of it sticking is low.

I'd rather get a good look at the top and fix it good and proper i think, better safe than sorry. I reckon a good fat self-tapper and blob of epoxy would do it.

I'll drive off the rest of the tank this week and have go next weekend. I've given all the bolts and clips a good squirt of oil to help.

Not many fillers are petrol proof either.

Its diesel, but there are a few, liquid-metal is one that i have.

when i was an impoverished student many moons ago my mini van tank developed some rust holes, i just dinged it in a bit with a ball pein hammer and filled the dents with plastic padding... it was still good a couple of years later.

have you considered welding it up when its out?..... in theory diesel fumes arnt explosive like petrol is, but the liquid will catch fire , least it does if you cut up a 1000 gal storage tank with a 9 inch angle grinder....i did once sucessfully weld a patch over a weeping rust spot on a part filled central heating tank.

self tapper with a rubber washer might work.... if there are a lot of holes may be best to get a tank from a breaker

ricc said:

when i was an impoverished student many moons ago my mini van tank developed some rust holes, i just dinged it in a bit with a ball pein hammer and filled the dents with plastic padding... it was still good a couple of years later.

have you considered welding it up when its out?..... in theory diesel fumes arnt explosive like petrol is, but the liquid will catch fire , least it does if you cut up a 1000 gal storage tank with a 9 inch angle grinder....i did once sucessfully weld a patch over a weeping rust spot on a part filled central heating tank.

self tapper with a rubber washer might work.... if there are a lot of holes may be best to get a tank from a breaker

Click to expand...

Liquid weather its petrol or doosle does not burn its the vapour that burns, doosle has a higher boiling point so is harder to ignite.

ricc said:

when i was an impoverished student many moons ago my mini van tank developed some rust holes, i just dinged it in a bit with a ball pein hammer and filled the dents with plastic padding... it was still good a couple of years later.

have you considered welding it up when its out?..... in theory diesel fumes arnt explosive like petrol is, but the liquid will catch fire , least it does if you cut up a 1000 gal storage tank with a 9 inch angle grinder....i did once sucessfully weld a patch over a weeping rust spot on a part filled central heating tank.

self tapper with a rubber washer might work.... if there are a lot of holes may be best to get a tank from a breaker

Click to expand...

its a plastic tank.

run an 8mm tap thru and screw a bolt in.
would be possible to get your arm in thru the sender hole and put a nut on it as well. and a penny washer either side.

Yeah, thanks guys, yes its a plastic tank, about 4-5mm thick, the hole is 4mm so i have lots of options re bolts/nuts/screws etc.

First thing is to drop the tank.

Dave

Araldite epoxy resin or get some plastic rod and a soldering iron and "weld" the hole up.

Well its all done, there was one hole and a couple of divots I opened the hole out a little and fitted a stainless screw then scuffed the plastic up with coarse emery cloth, wiped down with a solvent and covered over the screw and divots with some JB-Weld epoxy.

It took two hours to strip out, half an hour to fix and and hour to put it all back and replace the half-tank of fuel i drained out into cans, i also slung in a bottle of injector cleaner for good measure.

I also fitted new ARB rubbers while it was off, didn't need them but for the sake of £4 it seemed a good idea. The ARB has to be dropped from the chassis, the two tow-bar side-arms have to come off and dont forget the breather, filler and vent pipes. The top strap also has to be undone - one bolt on the O/S near the filler pipe.

I left the sender unit connected and the wife juggled that around while i dropped the tank on a trolley jack along with its cradle. All the bolts came undone with some effort but all were ok. You have to drop the near-side of the tank a long way and then work the filler neck past the chassis.

I was surprised how big the tank was, no wonder it costs so much to fill up Its heavy on its own so i would not recommend dropping it if there is any more than a cupful of fuel in it. I cleaned it all up, applied some more underseal to the floor repair and checked the chassis over, nice and sound all over.

Jobs discovered are that i need to fit some bungs in the rear floor outer panels, one side is just missing and the other was taken out when the towbar was wired, why people cant use grommets when running cables through panels i dont know. The rear axle breather is also snapped near the diff. Both of these will likely wait until it warms up, i'm not likely to go wading. There is still the matter of the blasted water leak in the back to fix as well.

One good thing i discovered is that the towbar is wired for both 12N and 12S plugs, the grey 12S one is hidden behind the towhook bracket.

Hopefully thats the end of this episode, many thanks to all those who offered support as always.

Dave