I've been noticing an intermittent gasoline smell from the outside of the truck lately. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of tracking down leaks, so I took it to a local mechanic, who told me that the tank itself was leaking, from the very bottom. I haven't seen it myself, so I'm not sure how big the leak is, but it can't be too terribly large, since it doesn't leak noticably fast.
He said that they called all around, and finally found a supplier who could have a used tank shipped in from out of town. He told me that, assuming everything goes smoothly, and they don't have to do any restoration work to the tank itself, it would cost me about $370 total to do the work, and $45 for their time if I take it home to work on it myself. I'm not sure if that's a fair price for this, but it could certainly be much worse.
Since this is a 95, I'm obviously not going to be able to find a new tank anywhere. I checked the inventory of the regional junkyards, and nobody local has any. According to car-part.com, there are some regional junkyards (starting at 2 hours away) that claim to have them within the $50-100 range, although I'm not sure what condition they're in.
I'm also considering patching it myself. If a patch is successful, then I've spent much less money, and probably much less time. If it can be patched without removing the tank, then that's even quicker. But patching it might not work, and even if it does, it's not clear how long it will last. I've heard varying things about patching fuel tanks: Some people swear by it, and others claim it to be a total waste of time. If I do this, I'm leaning towards using Marine-Tex Gray, as it sounds like one of the best options, plus it looks simpler and cheaper than some of the alternatives.
So at this point, it looks like my options are:
1) Pay this shop to do it themselves
Cost: $370+
Time: Negligible
2) Take it home, let it drain, and attempt to patch it (using Marine-Tex, or some preferable alternative).
Cost: $20-60, depending on what I use to patch it with.
Time: It would take a few days to drain it and to let the epoxy cure afterwards. I'm assuming that the active time spent would only be 2-3 hours, and that it could be done by one person?
3) Call around, make a road trip to pick up a tank within the region, and replace it myself.
Cost: $50-100
Time Spent: 2 Saturday afternoons: one to pick up the part, and the other to replace the tank. I'm assuming this would be a 2-man job over the course of an afternoon?
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