Metal Patch Products? Its Gotta Work!

[Sunroof]

The saga of my leaking "refurbished" oil tank and the main culprit being the oil filter seal has come to a dramatic conclusion!

Two extended bolts welded onto the tank hold the tank onto the inner fender and are secured inside the engine compartment. On my tank, I noticed I have a small crack at the bottom of the weld where the oil weeps down after warmup. I believe that the pressure test created the break at the repair shop.

The tank is an absoulte pain in the butt to remove, but by removing my right rear taillight assembly I have access by hand to the support bolt/weld area.

Here's the question:

Does anyone know of any putty or epoxy type material I can apply as a permanent patch that will adhere to a painted (POR 15) or oily surface?

I know there are some miracle patch material that can applied underwater, over oily surfaces, etc, that will hold under heat and hot oil but thought I would ask the P-heads first for suggestions. I can then avoid pulling the tank out and save time and aggrevation. The crack is about 1/2 inch long and nanometers in width.

Thanks
Bob
73.5T

[Fritz Peyerl]

Bob, sorry to say, but don't trust those TV adds and their miracle products. Nothing will stick to POR and oily surfaces.
Do it wright and remove the tank and get it welded. Those cracks can be stress cracks from mounting, it does not mean that the radiator shop over pressurized the tank.

Any quick fix, only will cause more problem later on.

[Rot 911]

Noting will stick to oily surfaces, but POR also makes a tube of putty type material that sticks to POR and dries hard. Personally I would remove the tank and weld it.

[Sunroof]

I gathered it would be a long shot!! I can clean the outside of the tank at the weld with a solvent to get the oily residual off but a light oil coat remains inside after the oil is drained. I might even get my dremel in that spot to grind down the POR 15 coat. I agree that taking the tank out and having the weld repaired and even reinforcing the other side is the wisest idea, but I thought I would try a short cut here..................

Thanks
Bob

[Zeke]

If you can get it clean enough for a short period of time, I think you might have a go at it with fast cure epoxy (not JB Weld). The residue in the crack itself with be the Achilles' Heal. Reinforce the epoxy with some fiberglass strand or finely chopped fibers.

BTW, I've successfully used POR 15 over fiberglass cloth as a patch. Not on an oil tank, just to let you know.

[88911coupe]

I think the issue will be whether the cracked area is "stable" if it's rock solid and does not flex then the epoxies may work but if it bounces a little and flexes then the expoxy (or whatever) will slowly crack and allow oil to seep. Certainly may be worth a try though...

[chrisp]

When I noticed some seepage near the neck holding the drain plug I machined an aluminum collar and JB Welded it to the oil tank. I now have no concerns torquing the bolt to 35 ft lbs. and the seepage is stopped for two years now.

Point being, I did basically what you are describing and it worked fine. If you don't mind the aesthetics on an epoxy patch, drain the oil, clean the outside of the tank very well (down to metal) and apply enough epoxy to span the area in question. I like the fiberglass cloth idea reinforcement as well. You could also slip a really disc of steel (not aluminum for electrolysis reasons) between the tank and the epoxy for support

As long as you get a full perimeter of clean tank-metal-to-epoxy bonding I don't think it matters that the exact spot where the seepage is occurring isn't totally clean.

Plus if this doesn't work you can always do the harder fix of removing the tank. Try the easy one first.

[dmwallace]

You might try reading through the various Marine-Tex products to see if one is worth trying.
http://www.marinetex.com/index.htm

The original product is claimed to be able to patch marine engine blocks, rotten wood (works well for this) and lots of other stuff.

Good luck!

[Sunroof]

I have used MarineTex on marine engine blocks with fantastic results as to JB Weld. Are there any other two part epoxy's that are recommended?

Thanks

Bob

[kach22i]

I thought that JB-Weld could fix anything.