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2.0i ES coupe with leaky fuel tank

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Sphinx_T

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Location
South UK
Car
6th Gen Accord
Hi all, I'm hoping some of you can help.

I recently bought a rather lovely 99 2.0i manual coupe which 'developed' a problem the first time I filled it up.:
The seams of the fuel tank seem to have sprung a leak :(
Now, the car only has 60k on the clock (back up by history etc) which I thought was a great thing but I think it's part of the reason for this problem; perhaps the tank was never brimmed and condensation has formed therefore rusting the tank.
Is this a common problem at all?

I've had a look through the 'hondaoriginalparts' site and it seems the Coupe fuel tank is unique, I was hoping it'd be the same as the saloon as they're more plentiful.
Can anyone confirm this?

I can't seem to find anywhere (I'm not going to the dealer...) that sells new tanks for these, unless anyone here knows different?

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated :)
Ideally I'm after a second hand tank if any of you guys (in Hampshire preferably, but willing to travel) know of one or are breaking anything.

Thanks
 
Can you not get a fuel tank liquid sealer? If you can afford to have the car off the road for a day our two then it may be worth a try.
 
double check its not the filler neck seam, thats a common one. and cheaper to replace
 
Thanks guys.
You can buy a sealer, Por15 Tank Sealer, but I'm concerned about the exterior rust getting sorted too.
Thanks for the heads-up on the filler neck, I will check that, but it does seem to be coming from the seams on the drivers side.
 
Sphinx_T said:
Thanks guys.
You can buy a sealer, Por15 Tank Sealer, but I'm concerned about the exterior rust getting sorted too.
Thanks for the heads-up on the filler neck, I will check that, but it does seem to be coming from the seams on the drivers side.
Click to expand...
As Marcus said my bets is on the filler neck as well.
 
Do you have a trusted mechanic locally? You could ask them to sort it for you, then you don't have to worry :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Do I sense a hint of sarcasm ;)
Didn't mean for my reply to sound like I'm dismissing help, I'll check out every suggestion.
Taking something to a garage goes against every fibre of my being :lol: I'll be sure to update this when I get it sorted though.
 
if Tank is very rusty and fuel is leaking from hole in the tank, then get a new-used one from used part dealer... don't try to use any glue or something as such repair is very temporary... Take it off first and check for leaky hoses from fuel pump(You didn't write is it leaking from the top or the bottom(rusty areas) of tank).
 
So guys just a quickly when did accords go to plastic tanks if they are I haven't checked.
 
forget new genuine parts such as fuel tank, bumpers or etc... they all are terribly expensive...
 
From what I understand and what I've seen of mine, steel tanks tend to rust at the seams first.
When the tank is full, or going from full to empty regularly, things are fine. It's when the tank is never more than ~half full that the condensation builds up between the skins of the seams and rust them out. It's very rare that the tank will rust on the bottom layer as that's always covered in fuel.

Mine is wet around the seams, which are visibly rusty too. To be honest, it's going to have to come out anyway to investigate properly so I'll get it refurbished along with check all the pipework. There are a few places that do it, normally on much older or hard to find tanks but I'll leave it to the pro's and pay the danger money.

Good second hand parts would be my first choice but coupe tanks are very hard to come by unfortunately.
 
I have cuted tank from 5th gen in 2 pieces and left them outside for half a year...and found no rust inside..there is very good zinc coating inside. I believe its impossible that tank gets rusty from inside. the only thing what can happen when there is only a little fuel all the time is that more water vapor condenses in the tank.
 
OK guys, I figured it best to update this with some pictures. As some of you will know, my main project car is my e36 BMW but I've had several Hondas (this is my 4th Accord lol) as 'every day' cars. My latest one is my 6th Gen 2.0 Coupe which I discovered had a leak from the tank. As with all jobs like this, you start one thing and uncover lots of other smaller jobs that need doing along the way so here's a whistle stop tour of what I've been doing lately (copied and pasted largely from another forum):
(Some of the work isn't my best, as that's saved for the other car, but for a daily it'll do hopefully)

So the Accord was leaking fuel when I brimmed the tank, only way to really diagnose was to drop the tank:
P1020811.jpg


Turned out it was the tank:
P1020815.jpg


P1020817.jpg


Buying a new tank was out of the question. Buying a second hand tank was pretty much out of the question too as the coupe has a specific tank :sarcastic. There are places that can re-condition them and they normally ask you to strip it down before taking it to them...oh well, I think I'll give it a go myself then:
P1020818.jpg


That's the good side lol
It took AGES to strip it down as paint stripper didn't touch what was left on there! Turns out there were several pin holes caused by exterior rust (It hadn't rusted from the inside out which it what I was expecting tbh)
With nothing to lose I cleaned it all as best as I could, used chemical metal on the pin holes and then gave it a couple of coats of Por15 which is supposed to be resistant to petrol and nearly every other chemical once it's cured.

P1020819.jpg

Also had to replace all the hose clamps with proper jubilee clips.

SPLIT INTO 2 POSTS DUE TO IMAGE LIMATE.
 
Now for the subframe; one of the tank strap captive nuts sheared off when I undid it, so I welded another one in there:
P1020843.jpg

P1020844.jpg


The rest was is a pretty sorry state so I wire brushed it and threw some paint on it:
P1020842.jpg


(this all took a lot more time that the brief descriptions would have you believe lol)

Other issue was the heatsheild being largely rusted through, so I 'bodged' it with scraps of another heatsheild I had laying around:
P1020845.jpg


Another issue :sarcastic As I removed the bumper, the rear numberplate light brackets crumbled apart :sarcastic So I had to make some new ones:
P1020838.jpg

P1020840.jpg


MAKE THAT 3 POSTS, SORRY MODS.
 
Last but not least, the rear bumper support bar is spot welded onto the rear panel and they tend to rust at the welds, this was no different. I drilled the welds, took it off and found some uber rust underneath which needed sorting. Figured I'd do a very quick picture guide on how to tackle something like this:

Rust:
P1020829.jpg


Cut out:
P1020830.jpg


Make template by placing thin cardboard over the hole and pressing around the edge with your grubby fingers to trace the outline:
P1020831.jpg

P1020832.jpg


Transfer onto steel and hold in place, in this case with a magnet:
P1020833.jpg


Weld in slowly:
P1020834.jpg


Eventually connecting the dots:
P1020835.jpg


I did blow through in the corner and spent an eternity chasing the damn this :embarrassed
P1020836.jpg


Grind down:
P1020837.jpg


I decided to bolt the bracket back on (after I'd painted it)
P1020870.jpg


Put the tank back in the subframe:
P1020846.jpg


And bolt it all back in (no pics)
 
Great way to attack the problem head on just get it done, love it.

Im currently looking into if the 6th gen saloon tank will fit a in mine, because i believe the were plastic. Im sure mine has pin hole leak somewhere too, smells a bit after fillup.

Was pulling the sub frame the only way to get to the tank on the coupes?
 
That's some great work there mate, makes me want to crack on with my cars :lol: Bet it was satisfying to brim the tank that first time and not have any petrol leak out!!
 
Thanks for the comments guys, just hope the pictures can help someone who has a similar issue.
Just to clarify, I haven’t actually brimmed the tank yet lol, I’ve put some fresh fuel in and made sure she starts and runs as before but not had time to go and brim it, that’s tonight’s job.
I’m not sure which generations (be it saloon or coupe etc) had plastic tanks but if there was a plastic one that would fit, I would go for that. Oh and dropping the subframe was the only way to get any kind of access to the tank.
It’s not that hard in reality; take off the exhaust from the cat back, disconnect the 3 fuel hoses around the filter area (one feed, one return and one breather, the clips are a mare tbh) and the filler/overflow pipes from the neck (once the inner arch trim is removed) remove the callipers and secure them out of the way as you do when changing pads, remove the bottom damper bolts and then it’s just 4 bolts for the frame itself. I only removed the bumper to give a little extra room to roll the whole ***embly out on its wheels, it’s possible without doing this but you need the car jacked up even higher. It’s big heavy stuff but not that technical.
 
Dude that is amazing!!! Many man Points your way for doing all that!

Thanks for the pics too. A great write up of some serious work done by yourself! Well done. Thanks for taking the time to post the whole thing up mate.
 
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