petrol tank woes..the end of the line?

britmanjohn · 08-02-2011, 12:06 PM

My 924s had been smelling badly of petrol (or rather gas over the pond!) and on looking underneath the hardline pipes from the boot floor down to the suspension tube were looking very corroded with signs of petrol on the floorpan. My course of action was to try to splice on new hardline sections replacing the corroded bits (forward of the rear suspension the lines looked fine). I dropped the transmission and fuel tank to gain better access and as the tank looked pretty corroded I sent it off to be pressure tested. The result is the tank has gone at the seam and the company looking at it said whilst they could offer a "Re-nu" repair at some £370 + but probably I was best off getting a new tank. As I understand these tanks are not cheap (some £1500?!) I am considering a petrol tank sealer such as POR15 - the type you swill around inside the tank which is meant to seal the tank from the inside.

Has anyone experience of using this product and if it actually works?

mikesride · mikesride's Garage

I have used it before on a few old motorcycle tanks and it did what it promised. That being said, on both bikes I only owned them for a further two years so not sure how long the repair really lasted.

grendiers · 08-02-2011, 01:39 PM

There's an excellent write-up on swapping a 944 tank into a 924, on 924board.org. Just do a search. Oh, here it is: 924Board.org :: View topic - Fitting a Late (Plastic) Fuel Tank to a 924S

This is a plastic tank from a later 944, the early steel tanks might be a direct swap, not sure.

That is, if you decide not to fix the one you have of course!

john walker's workshop · 08-02-2011, 06:40 PM

a new tank would be more than the car is worth. gotta be some used ones around. don't think i would slosh sealer in one.

britmanjohn · 08-04-2011, 12:34 AM

Thanks for all your comments.

Well the tank comes back today but the company that looked at it reckoned a sealer wont work after all because the corrosion is in the seam. I guess it would be difficult to clean/prepare the seam to give the sealer something to bond to. I think renu then is the best way to go but given the cost I want to look at some of the other things the car needs so I dont end up with another bigger bill around the corner on a car thats only worth a few hundred quid. Or maybe I can "bodge" the tank with some epoxy on the outside to get it back on the road, and then I wouldnt mind spending out if I had more use out the car in a year or so.

Replacing the tank with a plastic one would be a good solution it just seems quite involved. Nevertheless cheers for the link and I may come back to it in the future!