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Triumph TR6 - Leaking gas tank!

It's been a pleasure not to need to seek your collective and able wisdom for more than a year! Also, 2007 was a personally difficult year-I had a heart valve replaced and an aortic aneurism repaired, and my mother in law died a few months after my surgery. Other stuff took priority over the car issues.

The 71 TR 6 has been just purring along since the 2006 motor rebuild, with nothing going on but oil changes and a little lube.

Recently, it has had a strong smell of gas. I've been busy, knew I needed to check it out, but didn't. It got much worse and then this morning, there was a small pool of gas on the garage floor. I traced it to the lower left side of the fuell tank. The best I could do early in the morning before going to work was to siphon 5 or 6 gallons out, and then jack the car up so the leak was on the up side. It's still seeping a bit, but not as bad. We had to leave the garage door open. I'm guessing there are still 3 or 4 gallons in there that I might be able to siphon out tonight.

Leaking gas scares me. I think the only solution is to pull the tank. If it is a seam or something, it's new tank time. I can't imagine what else it oculd be.

Any suggestions?

JL Bryan

Hi JL,
Are you sure it's the tank and not the fuel line near the tank ?? might be a simple chep fix

Charlie
Charlie B.

JL
I went through the same thing last year. I agree, investigate if cut line first. If it is the tank, removal and installation is pretty simple. Biggest issue is spilling fuel on you, the frame and garage floor. If you have the tank repaired, make sure they repair the inside of the tank not just the outside seam. Good luck.

Shawn
SSD Mr.

Charlie and Shawn, I can't tell until I get in there. We did manage to get almost all the gas siphoned out last night, but there is still maybe an inch or so in the bottom. No leaking. We'll have to pull it out, I think, to see what is going on. Such is life with an old British car.

John
JL Bryan

It was definitely the tank. I strained my back a little and didn't get to until this weekend. My son and I were pulling it out and a piece of an old patch fell off; there was a little nail size hole in the very bottom that had been poorly patched. That patch was leaking. There was another patch higher up, so I went ahead and ordered a new one from Victoria British.

It's always something, but I just had over a year with nothing to speak of, so I guess I can count my blessings.

John
JL Bryan

John,
Your real blessing is that the thing did not become an inferno with you in it!!
db
Doug Baker

Doug, no kidding. I had a 74 Jensen Healy that did that to me many years ago. It had an after market AC, which had to be shut down at stop lights here in Florida.

One day I was sitting a stop light, heard a little "poof" and smoke started pouring from under the hood. I cleverly ran. The fire department came and put it out. A fuel line had broken and there was a nice little fire.

The insurance company tried to get it fixed, but gave up after about 6 months and totalled it, paying me more than what it had cost me. I always wondered what happened to the new carbs and other parts they bought.

But, this one was leaking right by the exhaust, so it could have been ugly.

John
JL Bryan

A fire is bad, but fumes lead to an explosion which would probably be a lot worse. Be glad that you found it when you did and it's fixable. Good luck with the new tank.
db
Doug Baker

Here's the update. I ordered a new tank from VB. It had two extra threaded holes in the top and three on the bottom. The bottom three all had plugs, so I took one plug out for the fuel line. That plug took care of one of the holes on the top and I got another threaded bolt from the local hardware store for the other.

The new tank is slightly wider and the hole for the filler thing is slightly off where it needs to be. My son and I had a devil of a time getting it in, but we did. Now, however, the gas tank lid thing has to go sideways because the trunk hits it if it goes the other way. But everything works and it is all good.

Now, I'm leaking clutch fluid. This weekend will have me getting the car up on car jacks and trying to figure that one out.

It's always something!

John
JL Bryan

John, sounds like a great tank for PI.
DON KELLY

This thread was discussed between 30/07/2008 and 20/08/2008

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