Topic: Pinhole In Freshly Painted Tank

[bollingball]

Not to sound to harsh I'm just a matter of fact kind of man. You have all ready screwed up by not taking care of this way before paint. If you do not coat the inside of tank you are screwing up again. I would do both (JB weld & coating) and be done with it once and for all. IMHO

[larry]

Grabcon you have any more ideas on nonflammable liquids that aren't spendy and won't cause rust?  Suppose a guy should fill the tank full if you're not gonna pressure test.  Let it sit overnight I suppose.

[Terry in Australia]

Not to sound to harsh I'm just a matter of fact kind of man. You have all ready screwed up by not taking care of this way before paint. If you do not coat the inside of tank you are screwing up again. I would do both (JB weld & coating) and be done with it once and for all. IMHO

I agree, although I don't necessarily think Rick has screwed up. I doubt that most blokes actually check their tanks for leaks before painting them, and most liners can be applied after painting anyway, so it's no biggie. I definitely wouldn't take a risk and "bodge" it with JB weld, tea leaves, bandaids or any other hokey remedies though, there is pretty much nothing more dangerous on a motorcycle than a leaking fuel tank. Do it right, do it once. Cheers, Terry.

[RickB]

Hi guys,

Sorry to drag an old thread back up but I realised I hadn't reported back or my success. I did in fact go with the quick fix. After a few months it's hold strong, not a drip or hint of a problem.



I tried getting JB Weld but true to form both my local Repco and AutoPro didn't have it. Those cure-all auto stores never have anything I'm looking for. I don't even know why I bother going to them. They did have the above stuff, which given the scope of the job, I figured was good enough.



The tools.



Using the pin, I was able to scrape off surrounding paint.



I plugged the hole by pushing the putty in with the bamboo skewer and paper clip. It looks a bit rough above, but I cleaned it up a bit after this. Considering it's under the tank and behind the bracket, I'm not too fussy.

Thanks for all the help guys, appreciated as always.

Rick.

[jtb]

Glad it worked for you Rick.  I'm with Terry on the Por-15.  Their kit has a cloth type mesh you can put over the hole on the outside.  ( I had a pin-hole next to the petcock )  sanded to bare metal, painted liberally with por-15, applied mesh over area, painted with more por-15 and let dry for several days.  Still no leaks after 4 years.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah John, the POR15 is great stuff. I've used the Loctite kit in the pic a few years ago to fix a fuel tank leak on my XA Fairmont, it was a great "temporary" repair, but shrunk back after a few months and allowed fuel to bypass it. I eventually replaced the tank.

I think a coating of POR15 would be a good idea still, but that stuff should be OK for awhile, as long as the heat from the engine doesn't accellerate the shrinkage of that putty. Cheers, Terry.

[Kevin400F]

I had a similar situation on a CB400F tank.   I used a Dremel and sanding drum to get down to bare metal, and sealed the pinholes with JBWeld from the outside. 

That held just fine for over 10 years, then decided to let go and leaked a half-tank of gas onto the garage floor.  Lucky I didn't blow up the f'ing house!

The tank is now lined with POR-15 (which I should have done in the first place).

+1 on putting a barrier on the inside...either POR-15 or Redkote.

Kevin in TX

[VTCBike750]

Ran across this thread. When my POR-15 liner failed, A bike shop I know of says they use a chemical stripper and sandblast the interior, then re-apply a sealer. They say they've had good results with caswell plating as a sealer. Is sandblasting the inside a bad idea? Is caswell good stuff?

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Adam, I had a POR15 failure last year as well (don't get me wrong, I think POR15 is a great product, I just don't know why one tank failed out of the three that I did at the same time) and I thought about stripping the old POR15 out, but as I couldn't be sure that I'd be able to clean the old liner out of every nook and cranny, I opted for another "virgin" tank. Cheers, Terry.

[Danno]

I am with kong on this one solder is a much more permanent solution I have a lot of faith in the epoxy putty rout too but in the area of the tank mount  flexes and the epoxy will give up before the solder will if it is thin brazing may not be the best as the heat required could melt the thin metal away but on the other hand solder will require the metal be clean which could also be a problem for it if it is thin and braze will fill holes larger than solder will
try the  the epoxy putty first then the solder then the braze if all else fails
but i still think the epoxy will eventually fail from flexing

[ekpent]

I think the blasting would be a good idea if no major metal were removed. If the surface was totally cleaned and slightly roughed up by that procedure I think it would make the sealer,whatever brand stick that much better. Most of the failures that probably quickly occur are do to the prep step which is the most important. Who know if any of this stuff lasts forever,does anything-----------except for our love for our wives 
  PS-I have been using Red-Kote lately,so far so good on several tanks.  The stuff is blood red though and the inside of the tank looks like you sacrificed a goat to the Honda Gods--------

[chewbacca5000]

I think the blasting would be a good idea if no major metal were removed. If the surface was totally cleaned and slightly roughed up by that procedure I think it would make the sealer,whatever brand stick that much better. Most of the failures that probably quickly occur are do to the prep step which is the most important. Who know if any of this stuff lasts forever,does anything-----------except for our love for our wives 
  PS-I have been using Red-Kote lately,so far so good on several tanks.  The stuff is blood red though and the inside of the tank looks like you sacrificed a goat to the Honda Gods--------

+1 on RedKote.  Used both por15 and RedKote and I like RedKote much better.