Hi All, the plastic fuel tank on one of my bikes has developed a small leak. Best described as looking like a paper cut rather than a hole, petrol slowly seeps through. It fits the bike perfectly so I dont think it is an ethanol swelling issue in this instance. Do any of you have experience of actually fixing something like this ? If so please let me know what you used. The internet suggests various things from Araldite 2 stage resins through to bespoke products apparently specifically designed for fuel tanks but it would be nice to hear first hand from someone who has successfully fixed a leak on a plastic tank if possible. TIA
Thank you for the suggestion. I have found a local plastic welding firm who will have a look at it to see if they can fix it. I`ll post an update when I`ve been there.
I have been to the plastic welder who are confident they can repair the tank but they need to know what specific type of plastic has been used as they have about 15 different options. Unfortunately this info is not on the tank but the name of the manufacturer is. They are called Acerbis and I will be contacting them for details. In the meantime if anyone happens to know the material please let me know. Presuming Acerbis cant help the welder is confident he can heat the area of the tank around the hole and then apply a 2 stage petrol resistant resin so with luck the problem will be solved one way or another.
If it's made from PA6 (most of them are) then it's not possible to plastic weld going by past attempts but get a professional opinion of course.
In addition to Chris' comment, many plastics, especially with nylon content won't accept resin based adhesives......ie; glassfibre resin, ordinary Araldite etc etc.
So, in that case, just assuming there were a crack in a fairing, it would not be possible to put some fibreglass behind it to reinforce it?
Just an update here. The tank manufacturer would not give out the construction details , they said " Reason is that we cannot ensure reliability of the product when repaired by unqualified operators " The local plastic welder was reluctant to try a weld without being certain he was using the correct plastic so instead has tried a resin that he is certain is petrol resistant. It seems to have bonded well to the tank so I`m going to tip a little petrol in and leave it over the weekend to see what happens.
As far as I aware, the carbed SSs OEM fairings were all glassfibre. Don't know about the fuel injected models. I have repaired glassfibre ones easily with araldite so dealing with the crack itself........... .....I use a coarse grit to scratch the inside of the panel.......and a finer one on the outside....... ........then drilling 3mm holes at 10mm centres right through on the line of the crack which I have already V grooved both sides, then countersinking the holes slightly......... .......then I apply a plastic adhesive tape on the outside of the crack, stick araldite into a small syringe and inject the holes from the inside so it goes in one hole and comes out of another....that means it has run along the crack groove...... ........I use an aluminium mesh patch on the inside, stippling the araldite into the mesh and smoothing it off...... I use rapid araldite, because it is less likely to creep, run or pond. The rest is done with filler and paint. I used the same method on a Kawasaki ninja plastic fairing......it lasted for about five years as far as I am aware.
