Hi, I'm a 1999 XJ and my owner drove me through some mining areas of Colorado over the weekend. When we got home, he noticed drip of gasoline from my gas tank skid plate. Somehow a wire (about the thickness of a coat hanger) had wedged itself between my gas tank and skid plate and punctured the tank- it had a sharp end turned in an L-shape. When he removed the wire I started losing fuel quickly. So now I'm stuck in the garage with a rubber cork pressed between my tank and the skid plate, plugging the hole. Do I need a new tank? My owner's thinking the junkyard would be the best place to find one, since he can't find any at auto parts stores (that don't have to be shipped in from China). Would it be a good idea to replace the fuel pump at the same time he has the tank dropped? I'm at 168,000 miles with good fuel pressure. There's no epoxy that'll work with this type of plastic, right?

 

Sometimes a Poxipol (Epoxy Glue) helps ! It is very hard to analise your problem without photo.What kind of tank do you have ? I mean plastic or metal ? And never try to weld it,it is really dangerous even without gasoline inside...

 

I take it he punched a small hole in a plastic tank.

I permanently repaired rust holes in my '85 metal tank with 2 part marine epoxy and fiberglass cloth. I do not know if standard epoxy will bind to plastic XJ tanks. There may well be specialty epoxies or other adhesives that will do so.

 

There is a thing, was made for metal boilers I think. The idea is it's a screw with a wide head and a nice gasket there. You just screw it into a hole and the gasket comes up and makes a seal. The "aggressive" thread grabs the metal well and it's semi-permanent. (for something that already has a rust hole). ACE might still have them.

Or. A plastic "poly" tank? At the hardware they sell universal pipe glue. It does PVC, CPVC, ABS....These glues actually dissolve the plastic some and make a welded-fused connection. I've used that pipe glue on cell phones and other plastic, even poly sheeting and that clear window plastic. The prefect little plastic plug that fits in the hole you drilled, with a head like a nail..like the "concealer" plugs sometimes put over a screw.

That said you need a replacement tank, and beware of sparks! Even static.

 

Go to the junkyard and grab a tank. They are pretty cheap. You can change the fuel pump if you want, totally up to you.

 

Grab a tank at the junk yard.

 

Yep, after some research, turns out I have a polyethylene tank, which very few adhesives will work with. Why? Because gasoline is a solvent, and polyethylene is one of few plastics that resist it chemically. A lot of other Jeeps have had luck with JB Weld on metal tanks, but it won't bond to the PE because it can'tIt turns out not many adhesives will on this material. The ol' owner is going to leave me in the garage and look into Poxipols and the possibility of melting more polyethylene over the hole. Both options require tank removal anyway so a reliable JY tank will probably be the best option. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

I wish I had a piece of that here. I'd see if one of those "glues" had the solvent to fuse it! (it's not really an "adhesive") I once over did it with PVC glue on some thin walled pipe and the glue melted it clear through!

But of course, like said, not a place to monkey around. A leak in the garage and the whole house might go!

 

When I got my 98' the gas gauge didn't work. So of course we drop the tank, and lone behold there was a 4-5" lag bolt inside the tank. PO had used it to plug a hole. What I did was drill it out a bit more and put a nut, bolt with washers and add some black adhesive. Let it dry overnight, and haven't had any issues sence.
If the " plug " you use is a tight fit, I really don't think the adhesive is doing much, just overkill IMO.
Next what kind of GT skid are you useing? I have a Tomken and it has drain holes as well. I do fear a stick, root, long polity rock, finding it way into one of those holes, so I've got a plug bolt,nut, and washer in the glove box, just in case
9,000 ft. .?? Frisco?