Good morning gents Thanks to good advice we have removed the tank and have the fuel sensor out, the O ring looks perfect but the tank face is cupped and every time the fuel tanks gets hot it starts squirting out as the tank deforms. I am thinking a petrol proof sealer coupled with the O ring would be a good fix?? How have you other guys fixed this? Cheers from Oaxaca
That works for me. Did you replace the valve on your petrol cap with an overflow pipe? Saw it on your picks when you did the forks. That is the cause of pressure in the tank that cause a leak.
Saweet, bought some SureFlex adhesive sealer as it says it is not affected by gas, oil or water. Was gonna buy the black Permatex which is the most oil resistant but says not recommended for contact with gasoline :huh Hadn't changed the overflow but have now, swapped it over from the rear tank. Mission now is to seal her up well and proper, X fingers this works as spraying hot petrol out at 35 - 40 deg heat on a hot motor is NOT recommended :eek1
If that doesn't work let me know and I'll send you some ethanol/gasoline resistant gasket material so you can cut your own and even stack it if the sensor isn't fitting flush with the tank.
I want to hear fixes for this also. I recently pulled my Safari and put the stock tank on because of this. I plan to buy a new sensor and petcocks to put on the Safari to make changing between the tanks a simple task.
Ok, this is the stuff we used, according to the label unaffected by gas, oil and water ... time will tell. I put it in the O ring recess and on the flat surface or the sensor as well as the surface of the tank as well which is slightly convex Autozone in Mexico has Permatex so if this fails we will try that, on reading both labels etc this stuff appears to be more gasoline resistant ..... and it smells great
I had the same problem. I wanted to buy an extra set of petcocks and sensor to have it permanently installed on the safari any way. In my cas it were the "wings" of the sensor (where the screws go through) that contacted the tank first and the middle part (in between the wings) and the tank still had some space in between at the same time. I just sanded the surface of the wings (a few millimeters at the tip of the wings and gradually less material removed towards the middle) so the sensor surface follows the curve of the tank. It needed some repeated iterations of sanding -> mounting -> leak-testing before I got it right but now it works perfectly. No gasket needed (important to me because a solution with a gasket is more difficult in the field to fix).
I am +1 on the problem being pressure in peoples tanks and not the seal. I had the same issue, common with the locking gas cap. If your venting is working and you aren't boiling your gas, it is not possible to have gas squirting from the sensor. After gas spraying and much consternation, I rebuilt my cap and haven't had a problem since.
Yeah with a black 30L sun heat sync, 35 - 40 deg C temps, a hot twin poking heat at it the one way valve is probably not the best option. I swapped the one way valve to the back tank and put the vent tube to the front, coupled with the adhesive sealant etc I would like to think we are sorted. We were planning on leaving Oaxaca tomorrow however the teachers strike here means the city will blockaded at every exit and the city centre blockaded so we ain't goin anywhere !!! Time to catch up on trip reports!!!!!
The sealing is done and hopefully it will hold now the tank shouldn't pressurize. The result, O Ring and flexible glue Tube to the front and the Flexx pad doing the job. Relocate front tank one way breather to the rear
Are you guys just running an open vent tube off the cap? That's the recommendation to keep the tank from pressurizing? Just installed a Safari on my SE and don't need it spewing fuel in the middle of Nevada--thinking preventative maint.
