R3039 Fuel Tank Leak

[bruceatlam]

I just noticed a leak in my tank last week. Ultimately pulled the tank to find the location ---- I've attached a couple of pics that will help you visualize the location. It's on the side of the tank that faces the seat and at a molded corner. It's not a seam but rather a corner generated by the mold. I outlined the location in white chalk. Looks like this corner is just seperating along the length of the corner. This resulted in a steady drip, drip -----

I called my dealer and he'll have a new tank drop shipped to me. The dealer is about 120 miles away. I'm expecting the tank early next week.

 

[xmariner]

Bruce, I hope this isn't contagious. Let's hope that's a "Monday" tank. Tough luck - hope the replacement sees decades of trouble-free service.

 

[joemd11]

Well thats not good. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to keep an eye on mine.

 

[Gary Fowler]

That looks like a seam or bend that shouldnt have been designed in there. Just an attempt to get another gallon of capacity. Tanks should have a minimum of bends and corners and they should be rounded to prevent formation of cracks. Looks like the Koreans got this one wrong. Hopefully the new tank will be somewhat different. My P7010 developed a leak due to LS embedding 4 nuts into the bottom of the tank to hold on a skid plate. Pretty stupid to hold a skid plate on with plastic. Of course as soon as something touched the skid plate all the nuts cracked out and left the tank with 4 leaks. The did redesign that after a bunch of tanks started leaking. Keep up with this if the new tank is the same. They may have a redesign later if this turns out to be like the P7010 debacle.

 

[bruceatlam]

Agreed --- the tank would be better off without those corners in the mold. Maybe gets an extra gallon in the tank. At least there aren't any unnecessary penetrations designed in ---- you've get the fuel outlet in the bottom, the return into the top of the tank, the level gauge fitting and the fill in the top .

 

[Gary Fowler]

Keep this in mind in case you have leak after the warranty is out. I fixed the leak in mine with JB WELD and it is still holding over a year later. The dealer gave me the new tank and told me to return the old one. I said ok when it gets empty, so far it has never gotten empty because it hasnt leaked so the new tank is setting in my shop in the cardboard container it came in along with the new designed support for the skid plate. It took them 6 weeks to finally get the new tank in and by that time, I had taken off the old one, acetoned it good, took a wire wheel on my 4" grinder and gouged it up good at the cracks and acetoned it again. Mixed up some JB Weld and layed down a goodly amount on each nut and let it dry. While that was happening, I fabbed up some angle and plate and built a proper brush guard for the tank. When reinstalling, I put some 1/2" thick foam rubber under the mounting points to cushion it (this was from an old foam mat for workstation standing relief) It been there a long time now and still holding and it is directly on the bottom of the tank.
You could likely fix yours the same way. You might ask the dealer about keeping the old tank if they dont have to send them back. I know they have to keep the broken parts for a period of time in case they are audited by the company and want to see the supposedly replaced parts, but sooner or later they throw them out.

 

[bruceatlam]

My dealer said to just toss the old tank --- I may take a crack at that repair. I can still use the tank as is --- it just drips. The biggest problem is the cost of the fuel dripping out --- if parked for a while, the tank will drain down to the crack. That's actually how I found the leak. After mowing for a day back in November, I filled the tank and parked it til last week. When I started it last week I only had a third of a tank, so I concluded that I was just nuts and had not filled it back in Nov. After I finished up last week and parked it, I paid more attention and found the dripping ---- one thing led to another from there until I pulled teh tank to find the problem. I put the tank back in as is --- just didn't fill it past the crack. I'll run it that way til the new tank arrives.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My dealer said to just toss the old tank --- I may take a crack at that repair. I can still use the tank as is --- it just drips. The biggest problem is the cost of the fuel dripping out --- if parked for a while, the tank will drain down to the crack. That's actually how I found the leak. After mowing for a day back in November, I filled the tank and parked it til last week. When I started it last week I only had a third of a tank, so I concluded that I was just nuts and had not filled it back in Nov. After I finished up last week and parked it, I paid more attention and found the dripping ---- one thing led to another from there until I pulled teh tank to find the problem. I put the tank back in as is --- just didn't fill it past the crack. I'll run it that way til the new tank arrives.

Definitely dont toss it. If you clean it up good with acetone and take a power brush on your grinder and really rough up that seam then acetone it heavily so the plastic is starting to soften. Prop the tank so the seam angles are on 45 degrees so you can lay a pretty thick base coating over the seam. JB WELD is thick but it creeps so it self levels so you need it to form a valley for the epoxy to stay in. At the ends you would need to tape across to form a dam so the liquid doenst creep over the edge too far. I would go from end to end and not stop just with the leaking area. It might take 3 or more units of JB Weld to do the trick but it will hold and stop the leak. With that design, you WILL need a spare at some point due to that square angle being a weak point. Let us know if the new one is identical. You might quiz the dealer about making this an extended warranty item if it leaks again in say 5 years. I think the tank would be only 2 years under the bumper to bumper warranty.

 

[Gary Fowler]

By the way, the way I found mine was I ran out of fuel. The gauge wasnt working at the time but I had just filled it up a couple of months ago, 26 gallons. When I got on it, I noticed all the grass was dead under it and wondered what caused that but really didnt even think about a leak on a new tractor. I went to my pond to move some dirt and when I went to cross a little dip, the tractor died and wouldnt start. I checked the fuel tank with a stick and it was dry. I got 5 gallons and poured it in to finish my work and figured I would fill it up when I got thru. I parked it in front of my shop and got off, then I noticed that the tank was wet around the bottom with fuel and occassional a drop would fall on the ground. It was really fast just a drop about every minute or so and then I called the dealer and he order a tank for me. I cranked the tractor and raised the FEL full height in case we had to load it up on a trailer. It took more than a week to leak out the 5 gallons, as I said it took 2 months for most of the 26 gallons to leak out into the ground. After a couple of weeks went by and no word from the dealer, I called him and finally he said they had to order one from Korea and it was a new design. They had ran out of stock due to so many leaking. It took 6 weeks to get a new tank by which time I had removed mine and patched it and reinstalled it. ITs still on the the tractor and holding fine.
By the way, grass grows where the 26 gallons of fuel leaked into the ground. I put some trash on the big dead area, set if on fire to see if I could burn some of the fuel out of the ground. It must have done some good, since the grass came back to grow on the area.

 

[bruceatlam]

My new tank arrived UPS today. I'm impressed with the support from my dealer and LS. The new tank is shaped just like the old one so that same corner is still molded in. There is one difference from the old to the new. The front wall on my old tank (next to the seat) had caved in a bit so that it was kind of convex shaped. The new one is nice and straight. And it goes without saying, the corner isn't cracked on the new tank.

Gary, thanks for the advice. I'm going to run the fuel out of my old one then switch. After the switch, I'll look at patching the old one.