What is it made of.....???

[bswiv]

Challenger MT525.....about 15 years old.

What type of plastic is the diesel tank made of?

I ask because it has started to leak and I know from fixing sprayer tanks that we use for prescribed fire and herbicide that they can be "welded" up quite nicely with a heat gun and the proper material.

But.....the tank on the Challenger is black, and, it feels different.....I know that is not scientific!!!......so I know better than to take the material I fixed a sprayer tank with and patch this one with it without checking.

Any ideas?

And yes.....where it is leaking is near the bottom so the option of just not filling it that far and living with it is not a option.

 

[grsthegreat]

I repaired my plastic gas tank in my kioti with jb weld like 12 years ago. No leaks to this day.

But it wasnt a crack, it was some varmet chewing thru the side of the tank.

rodent chewed hole in fuel tank DK45HST.....death to all rodents

I was working on my new shooting range, and kept smelling diesel fumes...never had that issue before. I opened the hood and saw diesel splashed all over the place. Took it to shop and did some further investigation and i found a 4" x 4" scraped area from some **** rodent and he actually...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[ericm979]

It's HDPE. Gas car fuel tanks can have multiple layers with some other kind of plastic that is less permerable by gas fumes in between. I don't think diesel tanks would be made that way.

 

[bmaverick]

Challenger MT525.....about 15 years old.

What type of plastic is the diesel tank made of?

I ask because it has started to leak and I know from fixing sprayer tanks that we use for prescribed fire and herbicide that they can be "welded" up quite nicely with a heat gun and the proper material.

But.....the tank on the Challenger is black, and, it feels different.....I know that is not scientific!!!......so I know better than to take the material I fixed a sprayer tank with and patch this one with it without checking.

Any ideas?

And yes.....where it is leaking is near the bottom so the option of just not filling it that far and living with it is not a option.

Many fuel tanks are made from HDPE with fiberglass and carbon strand fillers.

The fiberglass and carbon fillers offer both strength to the tank and prevents permeation of the fuels.

 

[flyerdan]

Somewhere on the tank there should be a triangle symbol with a number in it, that will tell what type of plastic it is, and what rod is required. You might find that info on a replacement tank listing in the parts book if you can't find it without removing a bunch of stuff.

 

[bswiv]

As it has a boom mower slung under it the getting at the tank is a big challenge. Really need to figure out how to fix it in place.

 

[bmaverick]

As it has a boom mower slung under it the getting at the tank is a big challenge. Really need to figure out how to fix it in place.

The JB weld for fuel tanks should work.

You may need to do it in layers. Let each layer cure, apply another, until it is totally built back up.

Various YT vids on this.

If it was me, I would use some of the same techniques as welding. If this is a crack, create a V groove along the crack for the JD weld to fill in and have more surface area to adhere onto.

 

[gengine]

Plastic fuel tank repair kit by Permatex works great, if you work faster than their "work time" directions, available at Napa

 

[bswiv]

Plastic fuel tank repair kit by Permatex works great, if you work faster than their "work time" directions, available at Napa

Explain the work faster part more for me please....

 

[gengine]

When you break the seal between the filler and the activator in the packet, you have to knead the packet to mix the two together. Working time is like three minutes in the directions. In my experience, you have to mix the two together faster, so you have time to spread it onto the fiberglass. So faster means, you have to be "aggressive" when "kneading", and when your feel any heat from the pouch, it's time to spread it over your fiberglass patch. If you take too long, the epoxy is already hardening when you try to apply it, ending up in a "clean it up and try again" situation. I don't have the instructions in front of me, but I think I had less than three minutes of kneading time, by then it was burning my very calloused hands. I cut the pouch and tried to apply it, but the epoxy would not spread. Second go round, I broke the seal, kneaded the filler and activator until I felt some heat, and applied over the fiberglass, following directions, just less perfectly, to get a good seal.