Fuel Leak

My Tanaka PF 3300 gas tank has a crack. It leaks a tiny amount when full. I tried sealing it with Quick Steel which is a two part putty that when mixed gets hot and becomes solid. That fell off.

Next I tried liquid JB Weld epoxy. It worked for a week. Now the fuel has either broken the bond it had with the tank or perhaps the vibration of the motor weakened its grip.

What can be used to seal a tiny crack on a fuel tank? I need to be able to find it locally in a hardware store. I've seen fuel tank repair putty that is just the same as the Quick Steel. Instead of being packaged in a cylinder it is two flat strips of white and black putty. It costs about ten times more because it is only two small strips instead of a thick tube for the same price.

The crack is very short and runs along a seam. I wish the tank were metal instead of plastic. This problem wouldn't be happening. I suppose there aren't too many companies out there making high quality products these days.

A new tank would cost about $30 with shipping expenses. These things aren't exactly standard stock parts so I can't pick one up off the shelf.

Let me know of your successes with stopping tiny fuel leaks.

Seal-All sounds great. Thank you for the tip. I'll visit a couple of auto parts stores on my way home from work and look for it.

I used alcohol to clean the tank the last time in addition to sanding the area to be coated with epoxy in order to make the surface rough enough to hold. I didn't clean out the inside with alcohol. Maybe that was the missing step.

I hope Seal-All is a common product in my area. Do you think it might be sold at places like Home Depot or Loews?

I went to the web site of the marketer and it said it was available at Home Depot. I went there after work and found it in the paint department. I'll probably wait until the weekend to do the work on the tank. Right now I just put a metal can under the tank at night and catch any slow fuel drops that drip. It isn't even enough to create a tiny puddle.

This stuff looks promising.

Seal All is a failure at bonding plastic. I used it in two ways. One was to put it around a place where I felt there was a fuel leak. So far after just one day there is no fuel coming out of that place.

The other way it was used is as a contact adhesive. The instructions explained about cleaning the areas well. I did that with degreaser and then alcohol. I put the Seal All on each part of the plastic to be joined. I let each cure for five minutes before joining the parts together. This morning I assembled the air cleaner where the glue had been applied and rode to work. To be safe I attached the parts with small strands of wire in case the glue didn't hold.

When I arrived at work 8.2 miles away everything was together. When I got home I examined the air cleaner and saw that the Seal All did not make a strong bond and the plastic parts had separated.

I really want to find a velocity stack that will mount to my carburetor. I don't know of any shops that have them. They did exist because Tanaka actually sold a kit that had one as part of a carburetor kit. They stopped selling it a few years ago and the Tanaka parts guy doesn't know where they bought those parts.

There is still a fuel leak but now I don't know where it is from. It is coming from somewhere around the place around the carburetor. The leak is so slow that I can't find a drip point. I just see dirty oily streaks on the gas tank.

I didn't know about this leak until the other ones were sealed. Do carburetors actually leak around the spot where they mount to the motor? How could such a tiny motor with such low compression blow a seal? I'm going to keep cleaning the area looking for the origin of the leak. Eventually I'll find it.

If it is a gasket are there any reliable gasket repair products? I see them in parts stores but I've always wondered if they really work.