JB weld plastic fuel tank?

J

JWC86

Joined
Jul 11, 2021
Messages
783
Purchases a used bike with aftermarket plastic fuel tank(Acerbis). Filled it up with gas tonight and it is leaking around the fuel pump cover gasket because one of the screw holes is stripped on the tank.

Two options I can think of:

1- use bigger wood screws. Seems getto and I’m not a fan of this option but I know it has worked well for others.

2- Use JB weld or some epoxy to fill in the holes and then run the screw into it when it’s half set up and remove and wait for it to cure fully.

If I had the option to just go get another fuel tank I would but I’ll probably have to wait a month or more.

Thoughts? Will the JB weld hold up to fuel?
 
Something I recently did to repair a plastic lawnmower tank that was leaking at a seam was to cut off a bit of extra plastic that could be spared from a support flange and melt it into the seam with a soldering gun. Once cooled I smoothed it out with a dremel.
 
Wrenchturner44 said:
JW....a photo might help. Could replacing the screw with a rive nut help?
Click to expand...
That would be ideal but I don’t know if there is room for the rivnut without interfering with the gasket. I have yet to really dig into the problem. Will have some time this morning hopefully.
 
Not sure just how bad it is, but if you are good fabricator, an internal and external plate, held together with screws is a great way to repair a damaged plastic tank
 
Not enough space for a rivnut without it interfering with the gasket I don’t think. Looking like bigger screws will be the way to go.
 

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brianl703 said:
Even better, not only will very few adhesives even stick to that, you can't weld it. It won't melt because it's crosslinked polyethylene.
Click to expand...
I think the best solution is to find a good screw is that is slightly larger. Really that’s all it is from factory. Crazy they don’t use pressed in inserts.
 
JB Weld works very well on fuel tanks. I have done this sort of thing many times. Fuel will not have any detrimental effect on the JB Weld and it sticks well to plastic. Don't try to do it the way you were planning. Fill the hole with JB Weld and let it completely harden, then drill a hole in it for the screw.
 
It’s not pretty but it’s solid. 5/16” x 1 1/4” wood screws. Should hold up until winter when I can do a better fix or just get a different tank. A little bigger would be nice.
 

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About a year and a half ago I used jb weld for the first time, to fix a leaky spot on my explorers radiator. I cleaned the area with carb cleaner and scuffed it up before I applied the stuff. I put a good coating of it about 2 1/2 inches square. I let it dry for 24 hours before putting any anti freeze or pressure on the radiator. It's holding good today. I'm not convinced gasoline wouldn't desolve it, you could try mixing some up and drop it in some gas to see how it reacts. Vibration might also cause it to fail if it's bad.,,
 
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