Thread: Can a Diesel Tank be Welded?

Yes but be EXTREMELY careful, if you are doing it by yourself. Even if you drain the tank, the gasses inside will get hot and the tank can explode. You hear many horror stories.

I have welded them before on trucks and tractors, but its important to flush the tank with water first. If you are not confident, get it done somewhere.

Can you take it to the tank manufacturer and make a deal about reliability?

To effectively weld it Id be wanting to remove flush and purge. Dieso has a nasty habit of wicking and contaminating welds. At worst if there is no 'cheap' welding option could you super clean it and use a malleable epoxy to seal it?

S

You may be better to try some liquid steel first.have sealed deisel tanks before using devcon, just clean it up good with a wire brush then wipe it down with some acetone then put on the devcon..I have seen some pretty major leaks sealed with devcon.

Of course if you can remove it you can get it welded, but not to sure how you would go leaving it in situ.


Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by wardy1

I have a Long Range tank in my D2a and it has a minor leak along a welded seam. Can this be welded? Can it be done in situ?
It's taken me a while to actually identify exactly where the leak is (leaks about 100-200ml a day when the tank is over 1/2 full). Now I know where it is, do I need to drop the tank (major hassle) or can I get someone to weld it using inert gas in the tank..... guessing here, I have no idea about this stuff

have done it myself

have seen a few others do it

seen one guy blow himself to bits doing it

like harry said....

you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?

If we ever do any welding on the boat near a fuel tank, we run a hose off a car exhuast into the tank to remove the oxygen..

This doesn't mean its the right thing to do , but it may help..


Cheers Ean

I wouldn't weld, not without draining and purging and having it vented. As Ean said, Devcon make an excellent product range and some of their 2 pack liquid metals are excellent.


Erich

better to weld them full than empty, even if it's diesel that there full of...

I have welded a few diesel tanks that have been leaking you may get some flame and full is better, had one where the loader "operater" had hit the tank and split along a seam on the side of the tank, used a mig welder and started above the crack and went down leak sealed off.

Have used Devcon to seal up tanks and that works good and would recommend using that as 1st option.

I would never ever touch a petrol tank did two when i was an apprentice using a soldering iron heated up using the oxy set it was even taught at tech years ago using exhaust gas etc to purge the tank, they stopped teaching it a couple of years later.