Drilled through petrol tank ooopps

[Webs777]

well yesterday I was trying to secure the buddy seat to the floor of the van. Had a quick look under and saw no problems. Thought I'd use a small drill bit to pilot the hole first. First hole near the door went ok so I proceeded to drill the second hole bit further towards the centre of the floor behind the passenger seat. Well felt the drill drill through the floor board then the floor pan then hit something then it poped through the what I know now as the petrol tank. Straight away I went oops lowered my nose to the hole and yes petrol is what I can smell straight on this forum to search for threads regarding holes in petrol tanks and quickly saw how to drop the tank and filler neck, pipes etc. Then proceeded to phone my brother with the news of his sisters misshap. Well he took it well and offered me a visit to him to drop the tank but not till a few weeks Well this morning I could smell petrol quite strong Spose as its so hot today it's the vapours. As no repairs can be done for a bit I had a think of what I could do to plug the hole in the short term. I got my trusty tube of quick steel putty and proceeded to need it then get a wooden BBQ sqewer that just fitted in to the hole through the floor to the petrol tank and slipped tightly in to the tank. I withdrew the sqewer and rolled the putty in to a small worm and feed it in to the hole packing it down in to the hole and just kept packing till about 1/2 a tube disappeared (but needing small bits at a time as it sets hard after a few minutes ) well all felt as if it was packing nicely and I'm pretty sure the hole got plugged. And kept going till no more would fit packing with the blunt end of the sqewer till it eventually got level with the interior floor. Well pretty chuffed with my efforts and as yet no signs of petrol smell in or out of the van.
What's your thoughts guys have you used this stuff before? Well for me it looks like pretty handy stuff and I will defently be replacing the tube and keeping it in the van as when you have a read up on it it can even plug holes under water I know I was not able to clean and prep the area on top of the petrol tank but if it holds then happy days. If not then me and my bro will be dropping the tank

[getunder]

Some years ago I restored a Rover 2000 that has not been used for several years. On a test run the carburettor poured Petrol over all over the hot exhaust manifold at quite a rate. Mercifully no fire. Fault was a pinhole leak in bottom of brass carb. float which I sealed with Leak Fix. As the part was obsolete took 6 weeks to obtain one during which float worked fine and contained no petrol despite being immersed in Petrol.
I also drilled through a mains pressure water pipe while drilling screw holes for floorboards. A generous poultice of Leakfix over 10 years ago and still going strong.

[T3 Ben]

that should sort it!

[dearjohn]

Good to see that you still are able to type, instead of lying in a burns unit. I can just imagine that hot curl of swarf coiling down into the tank!
8 lives left............
Nigel in Cavan

[Webs777]

Good to see that you still are able to type, instead of lying in a burns unit. I can just imagine that hot curl of swarf coiling down into the tank!
8 lives left............
Nigel in Cavan

Oohhhh yeah I did not think of that !!!!! ahhh well lesson learnt. No drilling in to the floor or where the expansion tanks are.

[faggie]

i have seen quite a few tanks over the years when dismantling vans where owners have done the same, and just plugged the hole with a self tapper

[AdrianC]

Good to see that you still are able to type, instead of lying in a burns unit. I can just imagine that hot curl of swarf coiling down into the tank!
8 lives left...

Makes me wonder how many I used a few years ago, when I chopped through a floor with an angle grinder - and went straight through the top of the half-full petrol tank, too...

[langb20]

The inside of a petrol tank is likely to be above the upper explosive limit, so even with an ignition source (hot burr, spark) there is not enough oxygen in there to cause an explosion, although vapours could ignite at the leak point and there would be a flame there. not something I'd want to test of course as it's the top of the tank then a screw and/or e-metal should be fine I would have thought, though putting too much through the hole may end up clogging the fuel line eventually if it drops inside? if tank is fully removed and drained, even then attempting a weld would be risky as residual vapours and plenty of air = explosion, clean out fully with degreaser & water if going down that route

[Fabzzz]

The inside of a petrol tank is likely to be above the upper explosive limit, so even with an ignition source (hot burr, spark) there is not enough oxygen in there to cause an explosion, although vapours could ignite at the leak point and there would be a flame there. not something I'd want to test of course as it's the top of the tank then a screw and/or e-metal should be fine I would have thought, though putting too much through the hole may end up clogging the fuel line eventually if it drops inside? if tank is fully removed and drained, even then attempting a weld would be risky as residual vapours and plenty of air = explosion, clean out fully with degreaser & water if going down that route

i always heard from helders that when you want to reweld a petrol tank wash it with diesel, to get rid of the vapours first. but i've never tried it. i haven't drilled my tank yet (nearlly did 2 weeks ago).

fab

[Ian Hulley]

I would fill the (small ?) hole with an epoxy metal and monitor it OR if small enough screw a self-tapper in with a rubber washer to seal the hole.

Ian

[billy739]

petrol can effect lots of different sealers / puttys ect.

you can purchase tank repair kits , basically they are fibreglass resin and matting.

any fibreglass repair resin/ matt will do it .

[Plasticman]

clean it and daub with p40
mm