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It isnt always the filler hose.


kturner

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For years, my ranger has suffered from the fuel leaking if you try to fill the tank (which I stopped doing). I saw the crack in the filler hose when I was swapping the fuel pump a while back, but couldn't wait for the part. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I swapped the filler hose and replaced the clutch. Yesterday I was going to treat the truck to its first real fill-up in who knows how long, but there it was again - fuel pouring out from under the bed. I removed the bed today and found the real problem. Something, my guess is a squirrel, had chewed a hole through the gas tank.

29865
 


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Wow.
I had an 86 ranger that I fixed from a salvage title. It was inspected then I fixed what they said was wrong. The first time I filled both tanks ( it was dual tanks) gas was pouring out of the second tank...the auto shutoff didn't work because the pump was missing. It was a scary drive home with a trail of gas following me. Lucky it was only 3 blocks.
 

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That's wild. At least you have a plastic tank - I'd be real tempted to try melting a patch into that spot with a soldering iron. May want to clean out the tank too since it's been like that a while :unsure:
 

85_Ranger4x4

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Over the winter mice chewed the vent caps off of three of the gas cans at work AND chewed a hole in our zero turn mower fuel tank which was sitting a couple hundred feet away from the shed with the gas cans.

I have never seen it before or since until now.
 

kturner

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That's wild. At least you have a plastic tank - I'd be real tempted to try melting a patch into that spot with a soldering iron. May want to clean out the tank too since it's been like that a while :unsure:
I'm debating... While I've wanted to try some plastic welding, I'm not sure a fuel tank is a good first project. On the other hand, I can't seem to find a source for a readily available replacement gas tank. Either way, I'll have to empty and drop the tank, which is currently essentially full.
 

Bird76Mojo

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Over the winter mice chewed the vent caps off of three of the gas cans at work AND chewed a hole in our zero turn mower fuel tank which was sitting a couple hundred feet away from the shed with the gas cans.

I have never seen it before or since until now.
Things like that happening have made me a firm believer in the flat cardboard glue traps and bromethalin based poison pellets. Bleeding to death from every hole in your body is what mice deserve.



I'm debating... While I've wanted to try some plastic welding, I'm not sure a fuel tank is a good first project. On the other hand, I can't seem to find a source for a readily available replacement gas tank. Either way, I'll have to empty and drop the tank, which is currently essentially full.
Why not just buy some fuel safe Permatex and glob it over the hole? If it makes you feel better, put a small piece of plastic on top of the Permatex.
 

91stranger

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Duck it man... You know what they say about duct tape. It's no worse than what it has been lol. How long has it been like this? That's a pretty big hole at the top of the tank. At least a patch of gorilla tape and then cover it with some sort of gas safe sealant. Should be an easy fix if you still have the bed off.
 

kturner

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Yea, I'm just getting mixed signals about repairing the plastic tanks. Some say they're HDPE, and HDPE has to be melted as no glue/expoxy will adhere to it. Some say there's new fancy stuff that will adhere to HDPE. Some say the plastic tanks aren't HDPE and glue/epoxy is fine.

I really don't want to have to keep taking the bed off, draining the full tank, to try something new to seal the hole because the last fix rattled lose after a week of driving. I've already sort of done that one extra time, as the original fix (replacing cracked filler hose) didn't fix the leak.
 

Shran

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I don't think you're going to generate enough heat to catch anything on fire by welding it with a soldering iron. However since you're removing the tank to clean it anyway, just fill it full of water and then plastic weld it. Zero chance of fire.

Plastic tanks are really hard to find...salvage yards usually destroy them or poke holes in them. It's a real shame.
 

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Drill the hole out so it's round and put a rubber expansion plug in it.
 

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if you get a plastic welder, practice a lot on something you don't need. like most things, the advertising says it will do things it can't
 

rusty ol ranger

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8dd348bf-f31e-4177-94dd-5a31833490b1_1.cbd79526313c85c166dd06ff2bf8cec5.jpeg.jpg


This shit is amazing. Ive used it on radiators, fuel tanks, water pipes, everything.
 

rusty ol ranger

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