Locally, there is a flurry of fuel thefts via drilling a hole in the victim’s gas tank. I’m not sure why this is now the preferred method over siphoning (some manufacturing change in the way fuel filler tubes connect to auto tanks, maybe?).
My question: Is there a way to affect a temporary field repair* to a drilled hole in one’s gas tank? I occasionally find myself in a situation where I’m quite a ways from civilization (out of cell coverage) and worry about returning to my truck to find some cretin has stolen my fuel that way. (On lengthy hunting/hiking/fishing trips I’ve returned to find myself the victim of other thefts… I assume they wouldn’t stop at emptying my very large fuel tanks).
*Assume another source of fuel available, unreachable by the thief.
If it isn’t raining, use a bar of soap. Soap is insoluble in gasoline. This is an old off-roaders trick in the event of a crack or or hole punctured into a tank. If it is a small hole just rub the bar back and forth to fill the hole. If it is a large hole, whittle the soap into a tapered bung and drive it into the hole.
I have to say using an electric (even if battery powered) drill to drill into the bottom of a gas tank makes me go :eek: . Sounds like an excellent way to win a Darwin award.
I have an old pickup truck that I use for hauling wood, and I put as little money as possible into it. The bed rotted out and dropped onto the fuel tank, breaking the fuel lines off. When I tried to remove the fuel pump, most of the bolts broke off. When I replaced the fuel pump, I got some 2 part epoxy from the auto parts store that is specifically designed to patch fuel tanks. It worked great and was only a few bucks. (I just hope I never have to replace that fuel pump again!)
Newer vehicles do have anti-siphoning systems. I’ve tried to siphon gas to run my generator from my Subaru and my wife’s Neon, and couldn’t get gas out of either.
I saw a mechanic do this once. Thread a neoprene washer over a self-tapping screw. Neoprene is impervious to gasoline. The mechanic was able to patch even while gas still trickling out of the hole and it held forever.
As stated, they make an epoxy just for gas tanks and I’ve used it on top without problems. Some idiot drilled through the trunk to mount somethng and actually drilled the tank in a number of places (wow). If you don’t drop the tank I like the screw/washer idea with brass screws but I would encase it in epoxy just to be anal about it. There are aviation fixes but they cost more than a new tank would.
As for why they would drill, stupidity and some cars have screens in the filler necks that prevent a tube going down (my 86 Honda Accord is like that).
Not really anti-siphoning systems as much as rollover valves that get in the way when you try to put in your hose. It’s a plunger on a very, very sensitive spring. Start to put gas in, and it opens up. Take away any force, and it closes. When you roll over, it stays closed, and your gas doesn’t leak out.
I have to imagine that you could get them from a car dealer parts department – they’re called anti-rollover valves. But I can’t imagine there are any “generic” ones that you can use to retrofit cars that don’t have them.
If you’re worried about siphoning, then you can get a locking fuel cap for virtually any car.
Not as risky as you think. It’s the fumes from gas that is flammable, not the gas itself. Drill into the part of the tank holding the fuel and it will cool the metal preventing any sparks. I knew a guy that use to put cigarettes out in a cup of gas, get it in the gas before the fumes can ignite. Also, back when I worked at a wrecking yard, we would whack the gas tanks of cars with an old double bitted axe to punch some holes, occasionally we would hit one that still had gas in it, we never had one catch on fire.
Thanks everyone for your replies. I’ll shop for the repair kits and keep one in the truck (along with some soap, Rick ). Good to know a temporary repair is possible.
I know it is the vapor that is flammable, no the liquid. but gasoline has two goals in life.
Evaporate and become a vapor
Go boom
I have seen the cig trick, it is stupid but it can and does work. A lit cig tip can get hot enough to set off the vapor if the mixture is correct. Pat of the reason the trick works is that the mixture goes from too lean to light to a condition where the mixture is too rich to light.
As far as your double bladed axe goes, it does not emit a steady stream of sparks that are plenty hot enough to ignite gasoline. The drill on the other hand does. As the bit starts to break though the tank, a small amount of fuel is going to come out and evaporate. Assuming that the idiot is drilling on the bottom of the tank, the gas vapors will then head straight down toward the drill motor which is happily giving off sparks. :eek:
I know a guy whose bolt came out of his oil pan on the road. He plugged it with a stick he whittled to the right shape with a pocket knife; he happened to have some oil in his trunk. He stopped as soon as he could for more oil, and drove only a couple of miles with the tank low, then he drove straight to a garage. They said he did a really good job of plugging it, and it wasn’t even dripping.
I think he whittle one end into a hex, and used a wrench to tighten it.
Self-tapping screw is a better idea, I’d say, if you have time to prepare beforehand, but even if you don’t, there’s always the possibility of doing something. Maybe you can stick a cork in it.
Wouldn’t a hammer and nail do the trick? It sometimes gets very hard to think outside the high-tech box.
Now at $2 a gallon, stealing gas doesn’t sound like a growth industry. How long does it toke to drain ten gallons, collect it in pans underneath, and funnel it into containers that the thief would have to bring along and then cart back home again, for twenty bucks.
However,the OPs question is still useful, since fuel tanks seem to figure out their own ways to sppontaneously spring a leak.
). Good to know a temporary repair is possible.