Girlfriends 95 Mazda MX6 sprung a leak from a barely percievable hairline crack in the fuel tank about three months ago, the tank is polyethylene or some plastic type material so we just slapped some super two part epoxy crap on it and hoped for the best. Well it held up for about three months and just started back today, have not examined it to verify it's the same spot but assume at this point it is. It was a supposed to be an emergency temp fix to start with but we haven't given it much thought until today. Can't find tank through any vendors except the dealer and it's a $700 item! Don't want to chance a u-pull-it tank, her car has never been wrecked or abused for that matter so I don't see a used one being in any better shape.

We didn't drain the tank on the last repair so I'm sure that had something to do with the longevity of the patch, tonight it will be siphoned dry!

Suggestions on epoxy types/brands to use?
Should I just fiberglass the heck out of it?

Suggestions guys and gals!

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I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone... but they've always worked for me.

WELD IT

Its plastic? use a torch and melt it back together

I would just get one from a j/y and make sure you swap in your pump and sender. A fuel tank isnt really a extinguishable item, you can run a car as hard as you want, its not going to care, you can flip it off a cliff, and as long as you land on the roof it will be fine. You can put a million miles on the car, and it will be as good as new.

Yeah, I was gonna say fuse it back together.

quote Originally posted by 86GT3.4DOHC: I would just get one from a j/y and make sure you swap in your pump and sender. A fuel tank isnt really a extinguishable item, you can run a car as hard as you want, its not going to care, you can flip it off a cliff, and as long as you land on the roof it will be fine. You can put a million miles on the car, and it will be as good as new.

I'm paranoid that I will go pull one, put it in, fill it up with gas, and then later in the week it will start leaking. This car has been really taken care of well, there is NO apparent damage to the tank and you cannot see it dripping gas, just a moist spot and what looks like a super fine hair about an 1/8 of an inch long. Park the car and come back a couple of hours later and there is a damp spot (not a pool of gas) under the moist spot on the tank. I would think any tank out of the same model car would also be reaching this point in it's life, 11 years doesn't seem that old to me but I guess things gotta start going at some point (they design them that way don't they! LOL).

Thought about welding/melding the spot with a soldering iron but just seems a little too adventurous of an undertaking, maybe I'm just again being paranoid.

Take the car to a radiator shop and see if the tank can be lined (they use a chemical product to put a thin liner inside the tank.) Whatever, you're probably gonna have to take the tank out of the car to get it fixed. Plastex http://plastex.home.att.net/ is a great product for fixing plastic products. My experience is that the repair is stronger than the original plastic material. You can check to see if it's gonna work--clean and rough up a spot on the tank and see if Superglue will stick. If it will, Plastex is what you want to use. (Plastex is cyanoacrylate glue and acrylic powder crosslink. One of my favorites for filling small holes--like wing holes--on Fieros.)

I wouldn't give up, but one way or another, you're gonna have to pay your dues on this. Slapdash, quick fixes aren't gonna do it. Probably not huge amt's of money, but definitely some icky work ahead. (Be sure you are kinda anal about clean and dry.)

quote Originally posted by Brian Lamberts: Take the car to a radiator shop and see if the tank can be lined (they use a chemical product to put a thin liner inside the tank.) Whatever, you're probably gonna have to take the tank out of the car to get it fixed. Plastex http://plastex.home.att.net/ is a great product for fixing plastic products. My experience is that the repair is stronger than the original plastic material. You can check to see if it's gonna work--clean and rough up a spot on the tank and see if Superglue will stick. If it will, Plastex is what you want to use. (Plastex is cyanoacrylate glue and acrylic powder crosslink. One of my favorites for filling small holes--like wing holes--on Fieros.) I wouldn't give up, but one way or another, you're gonna have to pay your dues on this. Slapdash, quick fixes aren't gonna do it. Probably not huge amt's of money, but definitely some icky work ahead. (Be sure you are kinda anal about clean and dry.)

Was gonna drain the tank, siphon most of it out and park on an angle that would keep the remainder out of the corner to be repaired. Must be a baffle in the filler line, got nothing but fumes! chipped the old epoxy off and applied a new coating, looks like it might be good to go for another couple of months till I can schedule to remove the tank. Used to the icky work but my GT is in pieces right now with parts coming in every day so it looks like the "slapdash" fix for the moment. Noticed it stopped leaking when I opened the gas cap, the crack is so fine that the tank must have pressure to cause the leak. It's not really a drip but more or less you can wipe the spot and watch the area around it become damp, kinda like one of those paper towel commercials. I would almost rather deal with a puncture than this tiny less than a hairline crack!

Thanks for the resposes and any other suggestions for the "pulling of the tank" day are apprecciated!