Kohler 12hp gas tank leaks

[EarlJ]

Originally Posted by Flatbedford

I used silver solder to fix my leaky tank. It leaking at the same spot. I rinsed it with soapy water a few times. I also used a trick recommended form a mechanic friend. I piped the exhaust from my truck into the tank to help displace oxygen and gas fumes with good old CO2 and CO. Not sure if that helped or not, but I didn't blow up and the tank stopped leaking.

That's a nifty idea, never thought about it. A buddy of mine said a piece of dry ice would do the same, so you could do that if you drive one of those electric cars and can't get exhaust fumes....

[jbrewer]

Originally Posted by EarlJ

That's a nifty idea, never thought about it. A buddy of mine said a piece of dry ice would do the same, so you could do that if you drive one of those electric cars and can't get exhaust fumes....

Yep, if you're one of the nine people who bought a Chevy Volt, you're out of luck! :-)

John

[Flatbedford]

I used my '70 F350 exhaust. Good old pre emissions exhaust.

[ol'George]

Originally Posted by Fred's 123

I hope you're passing this knowledge onto someone, ol'George! You definitely know your way around a torch and solder better than me.

My grandfather was a similar wealth of obscure knowledge, as an old-school plumber, who also apprenticed as a blacksmith. I picked up what I could from him as a kid, but too much of it was still beyond my years when he passed away.

Sounds like we came from similar families
Dad was born just after the turn of the century; he learned it from his dad as
they were plumbers/tinners, having their own business.
In those days you learned how to wipe a lead joint as most water pipes were
made of LEAD.
Funny how we learned that lead is bad for our brains after so many years of using it, but I'll not go there.
The young people today are just not taught old school skilled trades.
When chit breaks, somebody has to be able to improvise/repair as not all things are computer driven.
The schools in my area don’t even have/teach shop classes now a days, how sad.
With all the good/high paying jobs gone from this country, where are folks going to get the $$ to pay someone to fix everything?
I have experienced recent engineering graduates that don’t have the least bit of mechanical ability; you can’t learn that in a book.
It has to start @ home or at least in high school.

When I left high school we had to be able to proficiently operate a lathe, mill (Bridgeport), shaper, & weld,--- acetylene/oxy as well as arc.
We even did some aluminum sand casting.
2 days after high school graduation, I had a job in the auto industry going on to apprentice school.
Today they are in a pickle, because all us old guys are retired and we were not able to apprentice young fellows under us.
The only salvation I see is the world wide web for advice/help just like here @ OCC
Sorry for the long winded post

[Fred's 123]

Well, because they can be had for $20 - $40 on ebay, I just bought another used steel tank. It's the quickest way to get back up and running this week. I'll be doing the solder repair on the old tank, so it's sitting on a shelf ready to go, when the one I just bought (my third!) innevitably fails.

My proceedure for soldering tanks in the past was to soak and wash out several times during the course of a week (I usually only get to do repair work on weekends anyway) with water and detergent. I'd also do the flame-out test from the safest possible distance, but never fun with a 10 - 20 gallon auto tank.

More recently, an old-timer at work had taught me the exhaust trick. I like the idea, but have never tried it myself. Not sure how I'd "pipe" the exhaust from my pickup to the tank.

Thanks for the thoughts, ol'George. I agree with most of it, but it's just the way the world works today. Thankfully, there still seem to be a lot of guys who know how to turn a wrench, whether they learned it in school or not. Similarly, I've seen some real ugly repair work done by folks a generation older than me, who went thru the obligatory shop class program of the time. I'm not sure all those high school students taking shop in the 1960's absorbed what was given to them, any more than many teenagers today absorb the calculus taught to them. No matter what the future holds, I assume there will always be a self-sufficient few (and then the rest), as has been the case in every generation.

[Flatbedford]

Originally Posted by Fred's 123

. I like the idea, but have never tried it myself. Not sure how I'd "pipe" the exhaust from my pickup to the tank.

I used the hose from my shop vac.

[ol'George]

Now I don't recommend this, but I have soldered tanks with gas in them.
When using a soldering copper, there is no flame to cause an ignition,
but that is me.
This past winter I did an extensive gas tank solder repair on a '52 M38 jeep for a 81 year old Korean vet that he was restoring.
It was done with a soldering copper and little washout, but man that thing had more rust holes than a old model T muffler buried in the dirt for 50 years.
But it's best to wash tanks out and I also have flashed tanks by passing a torch over/in the opening, just to make sure they are clean when doing a welding job.
I remember modifying a sportster tank for a guy, many years ago that had some gas residue in a seam and after a little welding, it gave a whoosssh, and got my attention, Ha,LOL-- no harm done just a attention getter.
For soldering, I will not use any kind of torch, just an appropriate sized copper.
Way better and no chance to overheat and burn the metal causing you to start over and it enables you to bridge many rust holes easily.
Radiators are the same situation no torch used, it's to easy to overheat.
Now on body leading, I do use a natural gas torch and compressed air to paddle the lead, but I like to use the copper to tin it first,-- ya it's slower and more costly but it's old skool and I'm comfortable with doing it that way.

[jbrewer]

what kind of sized heated copper would you use to have enough thermal mass to solder a tank? Do you heat it with gas, or...?

John (who has some old vintage soldering "coppers")

[ol'George]

[QUOTE=jbrewer;138549]what kind of sized heated copper would you use to have enough thermal mass to solder a tank? Do you heat it with gas, or...?

John (who has some old vintage soldering "coppers")[/QUOTE

The bigger one is maybe 1-1/2 sq 2-3" long I heat it with Nat gas burner I built for it, but you can use any heat source,-- propane torch, oxy/acc,
blow torch, plumbers furnace etc.
I would think a at least a 1x1" would work, they have numbers a #1 or 2 will work well, but most old ones the numbers are long gone from drawing them out, as they wear.
The bigger ones hold the heat longer.
When heating them, don't go to hot or you will loose the "tin" on the tip. if you do, just plunge it in paste or acid and quickly re tin with solder, it's important to keep the "tin on the tip as this is where the heat transfer takes place!
It takes practice but once learned it is really easy to use.
Now if you are sweating copper plumbing a instant-lite propane torch is the way to go.

[Matt G.]

My dad has one of those big coppers...we fixed one of my tanks that way years ago. It worked great.